[C-NRLF 


The  Post-Mortem 
Use  of  Wealth 


Daniel    S.  ILemsen 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA. 


Class 


POST-MORTEM    USE 
OF  WEALTH 

INCLUDING   A   CONSIDERATION    OF 
ANTE-MORTEM  GIFTS 


LEGAL  POINT  OF  VIEW 

BY 

DANIEL  S.  REMSEN 

OF  THE  NEW  YORK  BAR 

AUTHOR    OF  "  THE  PREPARATION   AND   CONTEST  OF   WILLS,' 
"  INTESTATE  SUCCESSION   IN   NEW   YORK,"   ETC. 


ETHICAL  POINT  OF  VIEW 

BY 

FELIX  ADLER  NEWELL  DWIGHT  HILLIS 

CHARLES  F.  AKED  F.  DE  SOLA  MENDES 

JAMES  J.  FOX  HENRY  W.  WARREN 

DAVID  H.  GREER  DAVID  G.  WYLIE 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

NEW   YORK  AND  LONDON 

Gbe  Knickerbocker  press 

1911 


COPYRIGHT,  1911 

BY 
DANIEL  S.  REMSEN. 


Ube  fmfofcerbocftcr  press,  flew  Jgorfc 


DeDicateO 

TO 

THE  MEMORY  OF  MY  PARENTS 


OO-fl  O  * 


PREFACE 

THIS  book  is  designed  to  aid  persons  of 
large  or  small  means  to  formulate  plans  for  a 
wise  use  of  their  property  after  death.  To 
such  as  possess  a  surplus  not  required  for  the 
use  of  their  families,  it  will  be  found  of  service 
also  in  planning  a  judicious  use  of  wealth 
which  shall  begin  during  life  and  continue 
after  death. 

As  every  plan  for  such  use  of  property 
should  be  considered  from  two  points  of  view, 
the  book  is  divided  into  two  parts.  The  first 
concerns  what  the  possessor  of  property  can 
do  by  means  of  a  will  or  other  instrument. 
The  second  concerns  what  he  should  do. 

Being  much  interested  in  the  legal  aspect 
of  the  questions  presented,  and  noting  their 
economic  importance,  I  have  undertaken  to 
set  down  a  few  guiding  principles  from  that 
standpoint.  In  this  work  I  have  had  the 


vi  Preface 

assistance  of  my  son,  Allen  H.  Remsen,  a 
student  of  this  branch  of  the  law.  From  the 
ethical  point  of  view  it  seemed  more  fitting 
for  others  to  speak. 

I  have  been  exceptionally  fortunate  in  secur- 
ing the  co-operation  of  the  eminent  teachers 
of  ethics  whose  names  are  connected  with 
their  several  contributions.  In  this  way,  the 
subject  is  dealt  with  from  different  points 
of  view  and  in  a  manner  that  cannot  fail  to 
be  both  interesting  and  helpful.  I  had 
hoped  to  secure  an  expression  of  opinion  from 
Cardinal  Gibbons,  but  owing  to  the  pressure 
of  other  matters  he  could  not  find  the  time 
to  prepare  a  paper.  His  point  of  view,  how- 
ever, is  expressed  in  the  following  extract  from 
his  letter: 

"Whilst  a  person  should,  of  course,  see  that 
the  members  of  his  or  her  family  are  provided 
for,  as  charity  begins  at  home,  still,  every  one 
should  set  aside  a  certain  amount  which 
should  be  for  the  benefit  of  his  unfortunate 
brethren,  and  thus  a  certain  amount  should 
always  be  devoted  to  charity/' 


Preface  vii 

Should  this  volume  tend  to  encourage  the 
living  to  give  more  serious  thought  to  a  most 
important  subject,  and  aid  them  in  planning 
a  disposal  of  their  property  in  a  manner  more 
beneficial  to  posterity,  it  will  be  a  source  of 
gratification  to  the  writers  who  have  con- 
tributed to  these  pages. 

D.  S.  R. 

NEW  YORK,  March,  1911. 


CONTENTS 

PART  I 
LEGAL  POINT  OF  VIEW 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    THE  POWER  OF  WEALTH  AFTER  DEATH  3 

II.    OWNERSHIP,  A  TRUST       ...  8 

III.  POWER  OVER  PROPERTY  LIMITED      .  n 

IV.  TRANSMISSION  OF  PROPERTY     .         .  18 
V.    PLANNING  TRANSMISSION          .         .21 

VI.    PLANS  FOR  FAMILY  AND  FRIENDS       .  25 

VII.    PLANS  FOR  THE  PUBLIC    .         .         .  31 

VIII.    PLANS  COMBINING  PUBLIC  AND  PRI- 
VATE PURPOSES         ...  40 

IX.    USUAL  OBJECTS  OF  BOUNTY      .         .  44 

X.    PRESERVATION  OF  FAMILY  HARMONY  49 

XI.    PROPERTY  TO  BE  TRANSMITTED         .  51 

XII.    CHARACTER  OF  GIFTS       ...  54 

XIII.    SELECTION  OF  CHARITABLE  OBJECTS  .  58 

ix 


x  Contents 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

XIV.    TAXATION  OF  ESTATES     ...       67 

XV.    SELECTION  OF  \EXECUTORS  AND  TRUS- 
TEES       .  73 

XVI.    INSTRUMENT  OF  DISPOSITION    .         .76 

XVII.    INSURANCE  OF  WILLS       ...       82 

XVIII.    PROCRASTINATION,  AN  UNMIXED  EVIL      84 

PART  II 
ETHICAL  POINT  OF  VIEW 

I.    PRINCIPLES  WHICH  SHOULD  GOVERN 
THE  MAKING  OF  BEQUESTS  FOR 
PHILANTHROPIC  PURPOSES          .       89 
By  FELIX  ABLER 

II.    THE  ETHICAL  JUSTIFICATION  OF  AN 

INHERITANCE  TAX    ...       94 
By  CHARLES  F.  AKED 

III.    ETHICAL  OBLIGATIONS  OF  THE  TES- 
TATOR     ....  99 
By  JAMES  J.  FOX 

IV.    CHARITY  AND  RELIGION  .         .         .104 
By  DAVID  H.  GREER 

V.    THE  HYPNOTIC  POWER  OF  WEALTH    .     108 
By  NEWELL  DWIGHT  HILLIS 


Contents  xi 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

VI.    A  BENEFACTION  PRELIMINARY  TO  ALL 

OTHERS 112 

By  F.  DE  SOLA  MENDES 

VII.    PROLONGED  USEFULNESS  .         .115 

By  HENRY  W.  WARREN 

VIII.    THE  HIGHER  LAW  IN  THE  USE  OF 

WEALTH  .         .         .         .119 

By  DAVID  G.  WYLIE 


PART    I 
Legal  Point  of  View 


NOTE. — For  convenience  these  pages  are  in  form 
directed  mainly  to  gifts  after  death;  they 
are,  nevertheless,  generally  applicable  to 
gifts  taking  effect  during  life,  and  to  small  as 
well  as  to  large  estates. 


CHAPTER  I 

THE  POWER  OF  WEALTH  AFTER  DEATH 

THE  post-mortem  power  of  wealth  is  that 
power  which  may  be  exerted  after  death 
through  a  disposition  of  property  by  its  owner 
for  the  benefit  of  family,  friends,  and  society. 
The  character  of  that  power  depends  upon 
the  law  of  the  land  and  the  terms  of  the  in- 
strument of  disposition  executed  thereunder. 
The  volume  and  extent  of  that  power  may  or 
may  not  be  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the 
estate. 

By  grace  of  the  laws  of  civilisation  a  man 
is  permitted  to  do  certain  acts  in  his  lifetime 
which  give  direction  to  his  property  after  his 
death.  In  thus  permitting  the  hand  of  the 
dead  to  exercise  dominion  over  property  the 
laws  of  civilisation  deal  very  fairly  with  both 

3 


4  Legal  Point  of  View 

the  living  and  the  dead.  There  are,  how- 
ever, limits  beyond  which  dominion  over 
property  after  death  cannot  extend,  which 
limits  determine  the  validity  and  invalidity 
of  all  wills,  settlements,  and  similar  instru- 
ments. Such  limitations  are  well  marked  in 
the  law,  but  they  are  not  always  well  under- 
stood as  is  shown  by  the  unfortunate  amount 
of  disastrous  litigation  concerning  estates  of 
deceased  persons. 

With  proper  precaution  there  is  no  reason 
why  any  person  of  sound  mind  may  not 
exercise  an  important  dominion  over  his 
property  after  death.  He  may  conserve  his 
estate,  direct  its  management,  benefit  the 
rising  generation,  avert  litigation,  and  save 
his  fortune  from  the  blight  of  family  discord. 
To  this  end  he  may  make  deeds  of  trust, 
declarations  of  trust,  marriage  or  other  settle- 
ments, a  will,  and  the  like.  By  means  of  one 
or  more  of  these  instruments  the  power  of 
wealth  after  death  may  be  made  to  tell  for 
good  or  ill,  depending  upon  the  wisdom  with 
which  it  is  planned  and  the  skill  with  which 


Power  of  Wealth  after  Death         5 

it  is  prepared.  If  wisely  directed,  wealth 
may  become  a  most  efficient  force  after  death; 
otherwise  it  may  be  a  curse  rather  than  a 
blessing.  Like  a  dangerous  explosive  its 
value  depends  upon  its  use. 

Wealth  puts  its  possessor  in  the  position  of 
"the  man  behind  the  gun."  His  purpose 
may  be  likened  to  the  target,  his  plan  to  the 
gunner's  aim,  the  law  of  the  land  to  the  pow- 
der, the  property  to  the  shot,  and  the  will  or 
other  instrument  to  the  gun.  The  power  in 
both  cases  takes  effect  at  the  target,  and  its 
effectiveness  depends  on  the  gunner,  the 
charge,  and  the  gun.  If  the  giver  has  the 
wealth  and  the  inclination  he  may  construct 
an  instrument  that  will  accomplish  during 
life  or  after  death  any  legal  and  practicable 
purpose.  The  purposes  for  which  such  use 
may  be  suggested  are  innumerable.  Some  are 
legal;  others,  illegal.  Some  are  practicable; 
others,  impracticable.  What  purposes  are 
both  legal  and  practicable  necessarily  de- 
pend upon  various  considerations.  Aside, 
however,  from  the  Rule  against  Perpetuities 


6  Legal  Point  of  View 

and  certain  minor  limitations  depending  upon 
domicile  or  location  of  real  property,  a  person 
may  dispose  of  his  wealth  so  as  to  accom- 
plish during  life  or  after  death  the  purposes 
most  near  and  dear  to  him. 

The  importance  of  the  study  of  the  ways 
and  means  by  which  the  power  of  wealth 
may  be  projected  into  the  future  for  the 
benefit  of  mankind  increases  in  proportion 
to  the  wealth  of  the  community  and  the 
requirements  of  society.  Such  a  study  sug- 
gests many  considerations  both  legal  and 
ethical  requiring  sound  judgment  and  absence 
of  caprice.  It  suggests  obligations  to  family 
and  society.  It  suggests  a  distinction  be- 
tween family  requirements  and  surplus 
wealth.  It  suggests  plans  for  public  and 
private  welfare.  It  suggests  expedients  for 
discouraging  idleness  and  uselessness  and  for 
stimulating  beneficiaries  to  activity  in  private 
life  or  public  service.  Indeed,  such  suggestions 
are  capable  of  indefinite  development  and  if 
properly  worked  into  the  plans  of  wills  and 
kindred  instruments,  may  be  the  turning  point 


Power  of  Wealth  after  Death         7 

in  the  life  of  many  a  young  man.  Wealth 
can  assure  leisure  to  its  sons  and  the  greatest 
opportunities  are  thus  open  to  it  to  encourage 
them  in  the  performance  of  such  distinguished 
services  as  will  render  their  names  an  honour 
to  their  families,  their  benefactor,  and  their 
country.  To  insure  leisure  to  one's  descend- 
ants without  a  worthy  object  in  life  is  often 
to  insure  disaster,  but  to  spur  on  one's  de- 
scendants to  worthy  deeds  should  be  one  of 
the  greatest  delights  that  can  come  to  the 
possessor  of  wealth.  To  plan  for  the  good 
of  future  generations  is  more  than  a  pleasure, 
it  is  certainly  a  great  privilege,  it  should  be 
considered  a  duty. 


CHAPTER  II 

OWNERSHIP,  A  TRUST 

EACH  generation  may  be  said  to  be  a  trustee 
for  the  next.  In  a  sense  we  hold  our  property 
in  trust  for  our  children,  our  grandchildren, 
and  the  public  good.  The  duty  is  to  admin- 
ister such  property  wisely  during  life,  and 
after  death  to  direct  its  disposition  and  use 
for  the  best  interests  of  the  living  and  of 
posterity  yet  unborn. 

No  man  can  own  property  and  be  free  from 
the  obligations  which  ownership  implies.  Such 
obligations  always  exist  but  they  vary  accord- 
ing to  circumstances  of  family  and  estate.  In 
some  jurisdictions  their  binding  force  is  sub- 
ject to  no  tribunal  except  public  opinion  and 
the  owner 's  conscience,  while  in  others  certain 
limitations  are  placed  upon  an  owner's  power 
over  his  property. 

8 


Ownership,  a  Trust  9 

Public  opinion  does  not  usually  concern 
itself  with  the  post-mortem  transmission  of 
property  but  it  invariably  passes  judgment 
where  an  unique  opportunity  to  benefit  man- 
kind is  presented  by  the  possession  of  great 
surplus  wealth.  It  also  concerns  itself  where 
a  man  of  small  means,  without  sufficient 
reason,  disinherits  his  own  family  and  gives 
his  property  to  strangers  or  to  charity. 

The  ethical  side  of  the  post-mortem  use  of 
wealth  is  not,  in  the  main,  for  legal  consider- 
ation. It  is,  generally  speaking,  an  affair  of 
the  conscience.  It  is  capable  of  furnishing 
many  fitting  themes  for  the  pulpit,  the  moral 
teacher,  and  the  essayist.  In  Part  II,  of 
this  volume  a  few  of  such  topics  are  discussed 
by  ethical  teachers  of  the  highest  standing. 

Truly  this  is  an  age  unparalleled  in  history 
for  its  rapid  changes  in  the  sky  lines  of  science, 
mechanics,  morals,  and  finance.  It  is  offering 
rare  opportunities  for  the  wise  use  of  surplus 
wealth. 

Modern  patriotism  leads  not  to  the  slaugh- 
ter of  enemies,  but  to  the  betterment  of  man- 


io  Legal  Point  of  View 

kind;  it  leads  to  the  devotion  of  personality,  of 
money,  or  of  both  to  the  physical,  mental, 
moral,  and  political  development  of  the  race. 
It  means  the  doing  of  work  that  our  Creator 
would  have  us  do.  It  says  to  the  passing 
generation,  Let  man  be  master  and  Mammon 
serve  in  life  and  after  death. 


CHAPTER  III 

POWER  OVER  PROPERTY  LIMITED 

FROM  very  ancient  times  man  has  sought 
to  extend  his  dominion  over  property  after 
death.  He  has  sought  to  unite  his  fortune 
to  his  family  for  all  time.  So  varied  have 
been  the  devices  employed  for  the  entailment 
of  property  and  so  subtle  have  been  the  argu- 
ments in  their  support  that  the  history  of 
perpetuities,  so  called,  may  be  said  to  be  the 
history  of  English  jurisprudence.  The  firm 
stand  taken  by  the  courts  in  prescribing 
limitations  on  the  owner's  power  over  pro- 
perty after  death  resulted  in  what  is  known 
as  the  Rule  against  Perpetuities.  The  limits 
of  that  power  over  property  and  the  basic 
principles  of  the  rule  were  fairly  well  settled 
more  than  a  century  ago. 

ii 


12  Legal  Point  of  View 

In  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century 
the  Rule  against  Perpetuities  played  an  im- 
portant part  in  a  famous  case  involving  the 
validity  of  the  will  of  Peter  Thellusson,  a 
multi-millionaire  merchant  of  London.  In 
order  to  perpetuate  his  name  he  gave  the 
principal  part  of  his  estate  to  trustees  and 
directed  the  income  to  be  accumulated  and 
added  to  the  capital  and  invested  in  lands 
during  the  lives  of  such  of  his  sons  and  then- 
descendants  as  should  be  living  at  the  time 
of  his  death.  On  the  death  of  the  last  sur- 
vivor he  directed  that  his  trust  estate  be 
divided  and  one  part  be  then  conveyed  in  tail 
male  to  the  eldest  living  male  lineal  descendant 
of  each  of  his  three  sons.  Thus  he  deprived 
all  living  descendants  of  any  use  whatsoever 
of  the  bulk  of  his  property.  After  one  of  the 
hardest  fought  legal  battles  on  record  this  will 
was  finally  sustained.  It  resulted,  however, 
in  the  subsequent  passage  by  the  English 
Parliament  of  what  is  known  as  the  "Thel- 
lusson Act,"  whereby  the  accumulation  of 
income  is  now  limited  in  England  to  the 


Power  over  Property  Limited       13 

minority  of  infants  or  the  term  of  twenty-one 
years. 

In  our  time  we  have  a  notable  but  far  less 
extreme  example  of  the  way  in  which  property 
may  be  tied  up  and  the  income  accumulated 
in  the  will  of  the  late  Marshall  Field.  If  it 
were  not  for  the  enormous  proportions  of  the 
estate  it  is  doubtful  if  the  plan  of  Mr.  Field's 
will  would  have  attracted  any  special  atten- 
tion, much  less  criticism.  It  differs  very 
materially  from  the  Thellusson  will  which 
tied  up  the  estate  for  many  lives  and  under 
which  no  descendant  living  at  the  time  of  the 
testator's  death  could  ever  receive  any  part 
of  the  trust  estate  or  any  income  therefrom. 
The  only  persons  to  be  benefited  were  certain 
male  descendants  to  be  born  after  Thellusson 's 
death.  The  Field  will,  on  the  other  hand, 
ties  up  property  only  during  the  lives  of  two 
grandchildren  with  a  possible  additional  period 
of  twenty-one  years.  The  accumulation  of 
income  begins  to  decrease  when  his  grandsons 
attain  the  age  of  thirty  years  and  ceases  when 
they  become  forty-five.  When  the  elder 


14  Legal  Point  of  View 

grandson  attains  the  age  of  fifty  years  each 
comes  into  possession  and  ownership  of  his 
portion  of  the  estate. 

As  the  Common  Law  Rule  against  Per- 
petuities exists  in  Illinois,  Marshall  Field  was 
at  liberty  to  make  substantially  a  duplicate 
of  the  Thellusson  will.  This  same  rule  pre- 
vails quite  generally  throughout  the  United 
States  and  permits  property  to  be  tied  up  not 
longer  than  during  the  lives  of  any  number 
of  designated  persons  living  at  the  time  of 
the  testator's  death  and  twenty-one  years 
after  the  death  of  the  last  survivor.  In  a 
number  of  States,  however,  the  rule  has  been 
more  or  less  modified  by  statute  by  cutting 
off  the  term  of  years,  by  limiting  the  number 
of  lives,  or  by  shortening  the  term  of  accumu- 
lation. In  California,  Idaho,  Indiana,  Mon- 
tana, and  North  and  South  Dakota  the  term 
of  years  has  been  eliminated;  in  New  York, 
Michigan,  Minnesota,  and  Wisconsin  the  rule 
is  limited  to  two  lives;  while  in  many  States 
income  cannot  be  accumulated  except  during 
the  minority  of  a  beneficiary. 


Power  over  Property  Limited       15 

Other  important  limitations  are  found  in 
some  jurisdictions.  Such,  for  example,  are 
statutes  of  some  States  designed  to  prevent  a 
husband  or  wife  from  willing  away  from  the 
other  or  from  their  children  more  than  a 
certain  proportion  of  his  or  her  property  and 
in  certain  cases  to  prevent  the  giving  of  more 
than  a  specified  portion  to  charities. 

Notwithstanding  the  numerous  statutes 
against  perpetuities  in  this  country,  any 
person  who  carefully  plans  the  transmission 
of  his  property  can  still  by  will  or  otherwise 
tie  up  his  estate  or  a  substantial  portion  of  it 
and  accumulate  the  income  thereon  during 
the  lives  of  any  number  of  living  persons  and 
twenty-one  years  after  the  death  of  the  last 
survivor,  perhaps  a  hundred  years  or  more 
even  as  did  Peter  Thellusson.  Such  a  result, 
however,  must  be  deemed  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  warrant  the  resort  to  somewhat 
unusual  methods  combined  with  exceptional 
precautions.  Property  may  be  thus  tied  up 
and  income  accumulated  by  persons  domiciled 
in  any  State  or  country  including  residentsrof 


16  Legal  Point  of  View 

New  York,  Louisiana,  Great  Britain  or  other 
foreign  country,  even  those  where  trusts  are  not 
authorised  by  law.  It  must  be  remembered, 
however,  that  such  an  undertaking  in  most 
cases  is  exceedingly  hazardous  unless  techni- 
cally correct  in  detail  and  should  not  be  consid- 
ered except  under  exceptional  circumstances. 
The  recent  unfortunate  attempt  of  the  late 
Henry  B.  Plant,  a  resident  of  New  York, 
illustrates  the  folly  of  taking  chances  with  the 
law  against  perpetuities.  His  testamentary 
scheme  of  creating  a  huge  trust  for  the  benefit 
of  his  descendants  to  continue  for  more  than 
two  lives  in  being  was  legally  practicable, 
but  the  method  he  employed  was  ill  advised 
and  fatal.  Indeed,  the  courts  throughout 
the  country  are  adjudging  each  year,  on  one 
ground  or  another,  hundreds,  if  not  thou- 
sands, of  wills  and  codicils  wholly  or  partly 
void  as  not  being  properly  drawn  with  refer- 
ence to  the  law  of  accumulations,  trusts,  and 
perpetuities. I 

1  The  wills  or  codicils  of  the  following  named  persons  are  a 
few  of  those  recently  so  adjudged  in  the  City  of  New  York 


Power  over  Property  Limited       17 

alone:  Maurice  Ahern  (trust  void),  James  J.  Alexandre  (unlaw- 
ful accumulations),  Rachael  Almstaedt  (trust  void),  Annie  Jane 
Bills  (execution  of  power  of  appointment  void),  Agnes  Boerum 
(illegal  suspension),  Paul  Sandstrom  Brown  (trust  of  residuary 
estate  void),  Valentin  Bruchaeser  (trust  void),  Elizabeth  B. 
Caldwell  (trusts  void),  Nathan  Clark  (certain  trusts  void),  Amos 
Getting  (trust  void),  George  W.  Cummings  (illegal  suspension), 
Mary  A.  Edson  (certain  trust  including  a  secret  one  void),  George 
Washington  Egleston  (unlawful  accumulation),  Georgia  Fargo 
(execution  of  power  of  appointment  void),  Joseph  Fisher  (trust 
void),  Peter  Fuchs  (trust  void  in  part),  James  A.  Garland  (un- 
lawful accumulation),  William  T.  Garner  (unlawful  accumula- 
tion), George  Hagemeyer  (trust  provisions  and  power  to  sell 
real  estate  void) ,  Mary  E.  Henry  (trust  void) ,  Jesse  Hoy t  (un- 
lawful accumulations),  George  Jones  (execution  of  power  of 
appointment  void),  James  W.  Lawrence  (trust  void),  Francis 
McCabe  (trust  void),  J.  Jennings  McComb  (certain  trusts  in 
will  and  provisions  in  codicil  void),  William  Mulry  (trust  void), 
Maria  Murray  (execution  of  power  of  appointment  void),  August 
Roos  (unlawful  accumulation),  Elijah  T.  Sherman  (trust  void), 
Joseph  H.  Snyder  (unlawful  accumulation),  Christian  F.  T. 
Steinway  (trust  void),  John  Sullivan  (unlawful  accumulation), 
Samuel  J.  Tilden  (gifts  to  charity  void),  Charles  W.  Trotter 
(certain  trusts  void),  George  A.  Trowbridge  (trust  of  New  York 
real  estate  void),  John  Guy  Vassar  (gifts  to  charity  void),  Edward 
Walker  (trust  void),  David  Wakeman  (trust  of  New  York  real 
estate  void) ,  George  Whitefield,  Jr.  (trust  void) ,  Samuel  Wood 
(gifts  to  charity  void) ,  Amos  Woodruff  (unlawful  accumulation) , 
and  Edward  A.  Wooley  (trust  void). 

In  this  connection  it  may  also  be  interesting  to  note  that  the 
foundation  for  the  Nobel  Prizes  might  have  met  the  fate  of  the 
Tilden  Trust  had  not  the  executors  of  Dr.  Nobel's  will  entered 
into  "a  deed  of  adjustment  of  interests"  with  his  heirs. 

As  to  the  preparation  of  wills  and  kindred  instruments  see 
p.  76  post. 


CHAPTER  IV 

TRANSMISSION  OF  PROPERTY 

WHATEVER  may  be  the  possessions  of  man 
they  cannot  pass  with  him  beyond  the  Styx. 
The  owner  of  property  cannot  direct  its  use 
after  death  except  by  means  of  some  instru- 
ment of  disposition  executed  in  his  lifetime. 
Such  instruments  are  usually  instruments  of 
gift  of  which  there  are  several  classes.  Those 
most  commonly  used  are  wills  and  deeds  of 
trust  or  settlement.  Under  wills  gifts  take 
effect  on  the  death  of  the  testator  or  upon  the 
happening  of  some  subsequent  event.  Under 
trust  deeds  or  settlements  gifts  may  or  may 
not  take  effect  upon  the  execution  of  the  in- 
strument. In  one  or  more  of  these  instru- 
ments the  possessor  of  wealth  may,  within 
certain  limits  prescribed  by  law,  insert  pro- 

z8 


Transmission  of  Property  19 

visions  designed  to  extend  his  dominion  over 
his  property  after  death.  Which  instrument 
is  better  to  accomplish  a  particular  purpose 
depends  upon  the  circumstances  of  each 
case.  Sometimes  both  are  advisable. 

Where  the  owner  does  not  wish  his  property, 
upon  his  death,  to  pass  by  the  law  of  intestacy 
but  rather  desires  to  project  its  power  into  the 
future  he  has  two  courses  open,  (i)  He 
may  make  conditional  or  restricted  gifts, 
by  will  or  otherwise,  to  persons  or  corpora- 
tions. Thus  the  giver  may  after  death 
exercise  power  over  his  gift  to  his  family  or  to 
a  corporation  by  making  it  conditional  or 
something  less  than  absolute;  as  by  establish- 
ing a  trust  or  creating  a  power  whereby  the 
use  of  the  property  is  prescribed  or  restricted. 
(2)  He  may  make  absolute  gifts  to  corpora- 
tions organised  for  suitable  purposes.  Thus 
if  he  gives  property  to  a  corporation  chartered 
for  a  special  purpose  he  has  the  warrant  of 
the  law  that  his  gift  will  be  applied  to  that 
purpose.  With  these  courses  clearly  in  mind 
the  possessor  of  wealth  may  well  consider 


2O  Legal  Point  of  View 

the  planning  of  a  will  or  other  instrument 
or  the  making  of  gifts  during  life  which 
shall  determine  the  use  of  his  property  after 
death. 


CHAPTER  V 

PLANNING  TRANSMISSION 

ONE  of  the  important  problems  of  life  for 
the  possessor  of  little  or  much  is  the  proper 
transmission  of  property  at  or  before  death 
that  the  owner's  obligations  to  his  family 
and  to  society  may  be  wisely  and  honourably 
discharged. 

What  obligations  the  possessor  of  property 
may  have  to  family  and  to  society  in  the 
absence  of  positive  law,  must  be  determined 
by  his  own  conscience.  What  may  constitute 
a  wise  and  honourable  discharge  of  those 
obligations  his  own  good  judgment  in  the 
light  of  his  conscience  and  the  surrounding 
circumstances  must  determine. 

The  uses  of  wealth  after  death  are  numer- 
ous. Such  uses  may  be  (i)  purely  private,  as 

21 


22  Legal  Point  of  View 

for  the  benefit  of  family  and  friends;1  they 
may  be  (2)  purely  public,  as  to  promote  some 
charitable  object;2  or  they  may  be  (3)  mixed, 
as  to  promote  both  the  public  and  family 
welfare.3  Whether  the  plan  embraces  one  or 
more  of  these  purposes,  it  should  be  specially 
adapted  to  the  size  and  conditions  of  the 
estate  concerned  and  the  executors  or  trustees 
should  be  provided  with  ample  powers  to 
enable  them  to  meet  conditions  and  emergen- 
cies that  may  arise,  in  much  the  same  manner 
as  the  deceased  might  have  done  if  living. 

In  planning  the  transmission  of  property 
the  owner  must  take  into  account  the  extent 
and  character  of  his  possessions  and  the  law 
of  his  domicile;  if  he  owns  real  estate,  he  must 
consider  the  laws  of  the  state  or  country  where 
it  is  located.  He  must  take  into  account  the 
size  of  his  family,  their  requirements,  then- 
relationship,  whether  wife,  husband,  children 
or  more  remote  kindred,  their  sex,  their  char- 
acters and  habits,  if  married  the  character 
and  habits  of  their  husbands  or  wives,  their 

xSeep.  25.  2  See  p.  31.  'Seep.  40. 


Planning  Transmission  23 

ages  if  living  or  the  possibility  of  their  sub- 
sequent birth,  the  character  of  their  education, 
experience,  and  business  habits,  and  whether 
or  not  they  are  possessed  of  independent 
means  or  likely  to  be  provided  for  by  others. 
Besides  these,  special  points  of  consideration 
frequently  arise  in  consequence  of  second 
marriages  and  peculiar  family  circumstances. 

The  owner  of  property  must  also  bear  in 
mind  the  character  of  gifts  he  wishes  to  make, 
whether  they  be  of  money  or  specific  pro- 
perty, whether  the  gifts  shall  be  absolute,  con- 
ditional, or  in  trust,  whether  the  use  or  the 
income  shall  be  given  for  life  or  for  a  less 
term,  and  what  shall  become  of  the  capital 
and  accumulated  income,  if  any,  after  the 
termination  of  the  trust. 

In  making  his  plan  for  the  transmission  of 
property  the  owner  should  not  lose  sight  of 
the  fact  that  many  things  expected  or  unex- 
pected may  happen  before  his  plan  becomes 
effective.  The  amount  or  character  of  his 
property  may  materially  change.  His  real 
estate  may  be  more  or  less  converted  into 


24  Legal  Point  of  View 

personal  estate  and  vice  versa.  His  stocks, 
bonds,  mortgages,  and  other  securities  may 
be  paid  off  or  otherwise  changed  in  form. 
The  value  of  his  property  may  be  very  much 
greater  or  very  much  less;  indeed,  it  may 
not  be  enough  after  the  debts  have  been 
paid  to  pay  the  legacies.  Then,  too,  unborn 
natural  objects  of  bounty  may  come  into 
being  or  one  or  more  beneficiaries  may  die 
with  or  without  leaving  issue.  There  may 
be  other  family  changes,  immediate  or  remote, 
which  are  worthy  of  consideration.  Even 
the  owner's  condition  may  so  change  that  he 
may  no  longer  be  able  to  alter  his  plans  to 
meet  conditions  as  they  arise.  In  short,  all 
probabilities  and  possibilities  must  be  taken 
into  consideration  and  the  instrument  of 
transmission  planned  accordingly. 


CHAPTER  VI 

PLANS  FOR  FAMILY  AND  FRIENDS 

PLANS  for  the  benefit  of  family  and  friends 
are  usually  of  the  first  importance  and  in  a 
majority  of  cases  they  alone  receive  consid- 
eration. Persons  of  small  means  generally 
make  absolute  gifts  of  their  property.  Many 
give  all  to  the  surviving  spouse  as  a  means  of 
providing  for  the  family  as  a  whole.  Many 
divide  their  property  among  the  different 
members  of  the  family  in  equal  or  unequal 
portions,  in  some  instances  tying  up  certain 
shares  to  suit  varying  conditions. 

As  estates  become  larger  the  tendency  is 
greater  to  tie  up  property  by  making  gifts 
which  are  not  absolute.  The  law  permits 
the  giver  to  use  a  large  discretion  in  this 
respect.  He  may  make  gifts  which  will 
take  effect  or  terminate  on  the  happening  of 

25 


26  Legal  Point  of  View 

specified  events  such  as  marriage,  birth  of 
issue,  death  without  issue,  death  before  a 
certain  age,  simultaneous  death,  survivorship, 
bankruptcy,  disputing  the  testator's  will,  or 
the  like.  He  may  give  the  use  or  the  income 
of  property  for  life  or  for  a  shorter  term.  He 
may  pass  the  income  from  one  person  to 
another  or  he  may  authorise  his  trustees  to 
do  so.  He  may  provide  an  income  for  his  son, 
daughter,  or  other  person  without  rendering 
his  gift  liable  to  the  claims  of  creditors  and  by 
proper  power  of  appointment  may  authorise 
his  beneficiaries  at  death  to  distribute  his 
property  by  will  or  otherwise.  With  all  these 
possibilities  and  many  others  open  to  a  person 
disposing  of  property  he  has  an  almost  un- 
limited range  within  which  to  plan  for  the 
benefit  of  family  and  friends  and  he  may 
incidentally  retain  a  most  important  influence 
over  his  gifts.  If  possessed  of  ample  means 
he  can  give  effect  to  any  legal  and  practicable 
purpose  affecting  those  most  near  and  dear 
to  him. 
Among  recent  wills  of  wealthy  men  the 


Plans  for  Family  27 

plan  of  the  will  of  the  late  Charles  L.  Tiffany 
is  fairly  typical  so  far  as  it  provides  for  his 
family.  To  his  wife  he  gives  his  residence,  its 
furnishings,  his  horses,  carriages,  a  substantial 
sum  of  money,  and  certain  shares  in  Tiffany 
&  Co.  He  also  gives  her  the  use  of  his 
country  home  and  establishes  a  trust  from 
which  she  is  to  receive  the  income  during  life 
and  on  her  death  he  gives  the  capital  to 
certain  children.  To  each  grandchild  he 
gives  a  pecuniary  legacy,  the  one  bearing  his 
name  taking  a  double  portion.  To  certain 
persons  he  forgives  their  indebtedness.  The 
remainder  of  his  estate  he  divides  among  his 
children  in  unequal  shares.  To  some  he 
makes  his  gifts  absolute ;  for  others  he  creates 
trusts  during  life.  Under  some  trusts  a  child 
takes  all  the  income;  under  others  a  child 
receives  only  so  much  of  the  income  as  the 
trustees  think  best,  the  excess  passing  to 
other  persons.  Under  some  trusts  the  trustees 
are  given  power  to  pay  over  the  capital  as 
well  as  the  income.  Any  portion  not  thus 
paid  over  to  a  child  during  life  passes  after 


28  Legal  Point  of  View 

death  to  his  issue  if  any  and  if  not  to  brothers 
and  sisters,  but  in  one  case  the  issue  of  a 
particular  marriage  is  not  permitted  to  take. 
The  Astor  wills  are  interesting  and  import- 
ant documents  dealing  with  large  holdings  of 
real  estate  in  the  City  of  New  York.  The 
original  John  Jacob  Astor  devised  the  bulk 
of  his  real  estate  to  his  son  William  B.  for  life 
with  power  to  appoint  the  same  by  deed  or 
will  among  his  children  and  their  issue. 
William  B.  on  his  death  exercised  this  power 
largely  in  favour  of  his  two  sons,  John  Jacob 
and  William.  The  greater  part  of  his  own 
estate  he  placed  in  trust  for  their  benefit 
with  gifts  over  to  their  issue.  When  these 
sons  came  to  die  John  Jacob  made  an  absolute 
gift  of  the  bulk  of  his  property  to  his  son 
William  Waldorf.  William  Astor  followed 
more  in  the  footsteps  of  his  father  and  grand- 
father. He  exercised  various  powers  of  ap- 
pointment, made  numerous  gifts,  and  created 
various  trusts  for  certain  of  his  children.  He 
devised  the  residue  of  his  estate  in  trust  for 
the  benefit  of  his  son,  John  Jacob  Astor,  for 


Plans  for  Family  29 

life  with  power  of  appointment  among  his 
issue  and  failing  issue  over  to  others. 

The  wills  of  John  Carter  Brown,  John 
Nicholas  Brown,  and  Harold  Brown  like  the 
wills  in  most  families  have  a  family  resem- 
blance. They  deal  with  very  large  estates 
and  guard  very  carefully  the  possible  failure 
of  issue  and  the  death  of  issue  before  majority 
or  vesting  of  the  estate,  with  the  result  that 
if  these  great  properties  finally  vest  in  a 
descendant  they  will  probably  continue  to 
be  compactly  held.  The  Goelet  wills  dealing 
largely  with  real  estate  and  the  Vanderbilt 
wills  dealing  largely  with  personal  property 
like  many  other  wills  of  importance  follow 
somewhat  similar  lines  tending  to  the  main- 
tenance and  stability  of  family. 

Dr.  Charles  W.  Eliot  observes  as  one  of 
the  great  disadvantages  of  the  transmission 
of  wealth  in  families  "that  the  young  men 
who  inherit  money  often  find  life  a  terrible 
bore.  It  is  that  very  class  of  people  that 
oftenest  ask  Mallock's  question, '  Is  life  worth 
living?'  It  is  the  people  who  do  not  have 


30  Legal  Point  of  View 

to  work  for  their  own  livelihood  and  that  of 
their  families  who  most  frequently  ask  that 
question.  ...  It  is  your  young  fellow  who 
has  much  money  in  the  bank  and  more  in 
bonds  who  doubts  the  worth  of  living.  It  is 
a  miserable  question  to  ask;  the  man  who 
asks  it  is  in  a  wretched,  unnatural  state  of 
mind." 

The  remedy  for  the  difficulties  which  en- 
compass the  problem  of  the  transmission  of 
great  wealth  within  the  family,  as  Dr.  Eliot 
sees  it,  "is  contained  in  the  word  service — 
in  the  desire  and  purpose  to  be  of  service.'* 
It  lies  "in  setting  up  true  ideals;  in  the 
recognition  of  wealth  as  a  means,  and  not  an 
end."  To  the  stimulation  of  that  desire  and 
purpose  the  possessor  of  wealth  may  wisely 
give  special  attention  when  planning  his  in- 
strument of  disposition. 


CHAPTER  VII 

PLANS  FOR  THE  PUBLIC 

PLANS  for  the  benefit  of  the  public,  while 
usually  secondary,  are  often  of  great  im- 
portance. A  gift  for  a  public  purpose  may 
take  several  forms.  As  heretofore  indi- 
cated, such  a  gift  may  take  the  form  of  a 
trust  for  charitable  uses  or  of  an  absolute  or 
conditional  gift.  It  may  be  given  to  a  chari- 
table corporation  already  in  existence  or  to 
one  to  be  organised  in  order  to  receive  the 
gift  and  to  work  out  the  donor's  plan. 

The  usual  method  is  to  make  gifts  for  the 
purpose  of  sustaining  existing  institutions. 
In  this  manner  Sally  Thomas,  a  poor  working 
woman,  bequeathed  $345.83,  the  savings  of 
a  long  and  laborious  life,  for  foreign  mis- 
sions, probably  the  first  legacy  ever  given  for 
that  purpose.  In  like  manner  the  late  John 

31 


32  Legal  Point  of  View 

S.  Kennedy  bequeathed  millions  for  many 
charitable  purposes.  Such  gifts  may  be  given 
generally,  without  designation  or  restriction 
as  to  use;  they  may  be  given  as  applicable  to 
the  general  use  of  the  corporation,  or  they  may 
be  assigned  to  a  specific  purpose  within  the 
scope  of  the  donee's  powers.  They  are  some- 
times coupled  with  a  provision  that  the  fund 
bear  a  designated  name  as  a  memorial,  be 
retained  as  a  permanent  endowment  and 
only  the  income  used,  or  the  like. 

When  a  satisfactory  corporation  does  not 
exist  the  possessor  of  wealth  may  found  a 
suitable  institution  during  his  life  or  may 
provide  for  its  founding  after  his  death. 
Such  a  course,  however,  should  be  pursued, 
only  after  the  most  mature  consideration  on 
the  lines  indicated  in  Chapter  XIII  on  the 
selection  of  charitable  objects. 

Foundations  before  death  are  quite  popular 
at  the  present  time.  They  are  at  their  in- 
ception insured  the  benefit  of  the  guiding 
hand  of  their  founder  and  at  the  time  of  his 
death  they  are  going  concerns  and  ready  to 


Plans  for  the  Public  33 

receive  any  additional  gifts  he  or  others  may 
choose  to  make  to  carry  the  work  forward. 
This  was  the  method  pursued  by  Peter  Cooper, 
W.  W.  Corcoran,  Matthew  Vassar,  Johns 
Hopkins,  Leland  Stanford  and  wife,  Charles 
Pratt,  Enos  Pratt,  and  many  others. 

By  certain  recent  foundation  gifts  of  great 
sums  of  money,  prominence  has  been  given 
to  what  may  be  called  the  almoner  or  trustee 
type  of  charity.  Such  foundations  are  de- 
signed to  provide  means  for  research  or  other 
charitable  purposes  and  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree  to  work  through  other  agencies  rather 
than  to  do  charitable  work  at  first  hand. 
They  are  said  to  "  reveal  a  new  force  in  civil- 
isation "  which  seems  to  be  growing  in  favour. 
Of  these  foundations  we  have  as  notable 
examples  the  General  Education  Board  and 
the  Rockefeller  Foundation  instituted  by 
John  D.  Rockefeller,  the  Carnegie  Institution 
of  Washington  and  the  Carnegie  Foundation 
for  the  Advancement  of  Teaching  by  Andrew 
Carnegie,  the  Russell  Sage  Foundation  by 
Mrs.  Russell  Sage,  and  some  others.  These 


34  Legal  Point  of  View 

foundations  are  all  corporations  specially 
chartered  to  receive  and  administer  funds  for 
their  respective  chartered  purposes.  They 
have  power  to  make  investments  and  to  ad- 
minister the  income  more  or  less  in  perpetuity 
as  almoners.  Thus  for  all  time  they  are 
authorised  to  act  as  the  agents  of  their  found- 
ers and  other  contributors  in  distributing 
the  income  or  principal  for  such  charitable 
purposes  as  come  within  the  scope  of  the 
broad  and  general  terms  of  their  charters. 
A  similar  result  has  been  attained  by  the 
trust  form  of  gift.  The  late  George  Peabody 
created  the  Peabody  Fund  and  the  late  John 
F.  Slater  the  fund  long  bearing  his  name 
by  making  gifts  to  trustees.  The  property 
given  was  in  each  case  conveyed  to  certain 
individuals  by  a  deed  of  trust  defining  the 
purposes  of  the  gift  and  the  powers  and 
duties  of  the  trustees  and  their  successors. 
A  similar  result  is  sometimes  attained  by 
means  of  a  will. 

The  almoner  form  of  charitable  corpora- 
tion is  created  as  other  charities  are  created 


Plans  for  the  Public  35 

and  acquires  property  in  the  same  man- 
ner: it  requires  no  new  form  of  gift.  The 
difference  between  this  charity  and  others  lies 
only  in  the  objects  to  be  attained,  that  is, 
the  purposes  for  which  it  may  make  use  of  its 
property.  In  other  words  if  a  donor  wishes  an 
almoner  to  do  his  deeds  of  charity  he  should 
direct  his  gifts  into  that  channel;  if  he  wishes 
to  select  his  own  charitable  objects  his  course 
should  be  the  usual  one  of  making  direct 
rather  than  indirect  gifts. 

From  the  standpoint  of  many  philanthropic 
persons,  it  is  for  various  reasons  desirable  and 
often  more  practicable  to  provide  for  suitable 
foundations  after  death.  This  may  be  ac- 
complished in  several  ways  by  deed  or  by 
will,  (i)  A  person  may  give  his  property  to 
an  existing  corporation  in  trust  for  the  foun- 
dation of  an  institution  germane  to  its  general 
corporate  purposes.  In  this  manner  Stephen 
Girard  gave  property  to  the  city  of  Phila- 
delphia in  trust  for  the  foundation  and 
maintenance  of  Girard  College.  The  late 
Ervin  Saunders  gave  his  residuary  estate,  in 


36  Legal  Point  of  View 

memory  of  his  father,  to  the  city  of  Yonkers 
in  trust  for  the  foundation  and  maintenance 
of  a  trades  school  as  a  part  of  the  public 
school  system.  This  gift  was  made  con- 
ditional upon  the  city  accepting  the  provisions 
of  the  will  and  furnishing  a  suitable  site 
for  the  school.  (2)  A  person  may  give  his 
property  to  trustees  with  a  gift  over  to  a 
suitable  corporation  to  be  created  after  his 
death  and  within  the  period  prescribed  by 
law.  This  method  was  pursued  by  James  H. 
Roosevelt,  and  resulted  in  the  Roosevelt 
Hospital  in  the  City  of  New  York.  The  will 
of  the  late  Samuel  J.  Tilden  failed  to  meet  the 
requirements  of  this  form  of  gift  by  reason  of 
the  fact  that  under  the  limitation  over  to  the 
Tilden  Trust  the  gift  did  not  necessarily  vest, 
by  force  of  the  will,  on  the  happening  of  the 
event,  namely  the  incorporation  of  the  Trust 
"with  capacity  to  establish  and  maintain  a 
free  library  and  reading  room  in  the  City  of 
New  York."  The  corporation  was  to  take 
nothing  by  virtue  of  the  will.  The  estate 
was  given  to  the  trustees  and  the  legal  title 


Plans  for  the  Public  37 

was  to  remain  in  them  until  by  their  dis- 
cretionary action,  if  ever,  they  should  think 
best  to  convey  it  to  the  corporation.  The 
unfortunate  alternative  provision  was  that, 
if  for  any  cause  or  reason  the  trustees 
should  deem  it  "  inexpedient "  thus  to  convey, 
they  should  apply  the  residuary  estate  "to 
such  charitable,  educational  and  scientific  pur- 
poses/' as  in  their  judgment  would  make  the 
estate  "most  widely  and  substantially  bene- 
ficial to  the  interest  of  mankind. "  (3)  Where 
the  law  of  charitable  uses  prevails  a  person 
may  by  will  give  property  to  trustees  without 
any  direction  as  to  incorporation  upon  a  trust, 
more  or  less  indefinite  as  to  purposes  and 
beneficiaries,  for  founding  and  maintaining 
the  desired  charity.  This  method,  although 
inviting  to  litigation  and  in  other  respects 
objectionable,  has  been  sustained  by  the 
courts  from  very  ancient  times  in  order  to 
save  to  the  public  charitable  gifts  otherwise 
void,  and  to  this  fact  many  charities  owe  their 
existence.  Among  recent  instances  of  this 
are  the  two  great  library  foundations  in 


38  Legal  Point  of  View 

Chicago  made  by  the  wills  of  Walter  L.  New- 
berry  and  John  Crerar  both  of  which  were 
subjects  of  litigation.  In  New  York  this 
method  of  making  charitable  bequests  was 
made  lawful  by  an  act  of  the  legislature  after 
the  failure  of  Governor  Tilden's  will. 

In  some  wills  a  combination  of  methods  is 
found  and  various  expedients  are  introduced 
to  prevent  failure  of  purpose.  Thus  Robert 
Richard  Randall  gave  his  farm  on  Broadway 
below  Fourteenth  Street  in  the  City  of  New 
York  to  certain  persons  and  their  successors 
in  trust  to  found  and  maintain  what  is  known 
as  the  Sailors  Snug  Harbour,  if  they  could 
do  so  legally,  otherwise  the  gift  was  to  go  to  a 
suitable  institution  to  be  incorporated  by  act 
of  the  legislature.  If  these  gifts  should  fail 
and  the  property  finally  come  to  the  testator's 
heirs,  he  provided  that  they  should  take  the 
same  charged  with  the  trust  for  the  foundation 
of  his  proposed  public  charity.  In  like 
manner  the  late  Winfield  S.  Stratton  of 
Colorado  bequeathed  the  residue  of  his  es- 
tate to  trustees  to  found  the  "  Myron  Strat- 


Plans  for  the  Public  39 

ton  Home"  in  memory  of  his  father,  and  in 
the  event  that  the  gift  should  be  adjudged 
illegal  or  void  he  bequeathed  the  same  to  the 
State  of  Colorado  for  charitable  purposes. 

The  method  by  which  the  rich  man  can 
best  benefit  a  community,  says  Andrew 
Carnegie  in  his  Gospel  of  Wealth,  "is  to  place 
within  its  reach  the  ladders  upon  which  the 
aspiring  can  rise."  After  the  obligations  of 
family  have  been  discharged  surely  there  can 
be  no  more  commendable  object  for  the  use 
of  wealth. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

PLANS    COMBINING    PUBLIC    AND    PRIVATE 
PURPOSES 

PLANS  for  the  accomplishment  of  both 
public  and  private  purposes  are  often  found 
in  wills  and  kindred  instruments  and  then- 
possible  extension  is  worthy  of  consideration. 
Perhaps  the  most  usual  are  those  requiring  a 
descendant  or  other  beneficiary  to  perform 
certain  acts  or  engage  in  some  useful  employ- 
ment in  order  to  be  benefited  under  the  will. 

Thus  the  late  Cecil  Rhodes  in  his  will  de- 
clares that  he  feels  "that  it  is  the  essence  of  a 
proper  life  that  every  man  should  during  some 
substantial  period  thereof  have  some  definite 
occupation,'*  and  that  an  expectant  heir 
should  not  develop  into  a  "loafer."  He 
therefore  in  entailing  his  Dalham  Hall  estate 

provides  for  forfeiture  on  attempted  sale  by 

40 


Public  and  Private  Purposes       41 

an  heir  of  his  interest  in  the  estate  or  failure 
to  engage  in  some  profession  or  business  other 
than  that  of  the  army  for  a  period  of  at  least 
ten  years.  With  a  similar  motive  the  original 
John  Jacob  Astor  devised  the  use  of  certain 
real  estate  to  his  grandsons  for  life  and  pro- 
vided that  if  his  son,  their  father,  "  should 
consider  either  of  them  to  have  become  un- 
worthy of  this  devise"  he  might  convey  the 
share  of  such  one  or  more  of  them  to  the 
others,  etc. 

The  late  William  J.  Gordon  in  benefiting 
the  public  by  giving  to  the  city  of  Cleveland 
his  country  seat  known  as  "Gordon  Park" 
provided  that  his  burial  plot  therein  should 
be  maintained  at  public  expense  in  as  good 
condition  as  constructed  and  improved  by 
himself  or  his  executors. 

While  the  will  of  the  late  Russell  Sage 
makes  absolute  gift  of  his  residuary  estate 
to  his  wife  she  is  undoubtedly  administering 
it  in  accordance  with  his  wishes  primarily  for 
the  benefit  of  the  public.  Such  absolute  gifts 
are  frequently  made  by  testators  accompanied 


42  Legal  Point  of  View 

by  letters  of  request.  Thus  after  willing  his 
property  to  his  wife  the  late  Alexander  T. 
Stewart  left  a  letter  requesting,  in  case  his 
life  should  not  be  spared  to  complete  his  plans, 
that  she  make  provision  for  certain  proposed 
charities  which  he  then  had  under  consider- 
ation. Such  a  method,  however,  frequently 
fails. 

Matthew  Vassar,  the  founder  of  Vassar 
College,  in  giving  a  certain  fund  to  the  Col- 
lege charged  thereon  the  board  and  tuition  of 
such  of  his  female  blood  relatives  as  might 
wish  to  attend  the  College  and  of  the  daughters 
of  a  certain  friend. 

The  will  of  the  late  Charles  Pratt  is  a  won- 
derful example  of  originality.  Besides  pro- 
viding an  income  for  his  children  graduated, 
by  the  yearly  addition  of  a  certain  sum  to 
each,  he  makes  provision  for  the  Pratt  In- 
stitute, a  notable  monument  to  a  noble  mind. 
Then  in  order  to  induce  one  of  his  sons  to 
"continue  as  the  recognised  head  of  the 
faculty  and  give  his  time  and  energy  to  the 
development  of  the  institution"  and  "as  an 


Public  and  Private  Purposes        43 

encouragement  for  him  to  continue  in  said 
work,"  he  provides  for  a  certain  increase  in 
his  son's  salary  each  year,  depending  some- 
what on  the  success  of  the  institution. 

Mr.  Pratt  recognised  the  efficiency  of  serv- 
ice "the  desire  and  purpose  to  be  of  service." 
He  utilised  Dr.  Eliot's  remedy  for  the  dangers 
of  transmitting  great  wealth  in  families. 
His  will  is  clearly  the  result  of  much  study. 
It  suggests  possibilities  along  the  line  of  which 
other  possessors  of  wealth  may  encourage 
their  sons  so  to  live  that  an  assured  income 
and  leisure  shall  not  blight  productive  effort. 


CHAPTER  IX 

USUAL  OBJECTS  OF  BOUNTY 

THE  objects  most  near  and  dear  to  the 
average  man  or  woman  are  his  or  her  spouse, 
descendants,  and  ancestors.  Then  come  de- 
pendents, collateral  relations  more  or  less 
according  to  degree  of  kinship,  friends,  and 
employees. 

In  making  testamentary  provision  for  kin- 
dred the  donor  must  be  mindful  that  his 
legal  obligations  and  duties  may  vary  with  his 
domicile  or  the  location  of  his  property.  In 
some  jurisdictions  the  wife  is  entitled  to 
dower  and  the  husband  to  courtesy  or  other 
rights  independent  of  any  will.  Children  and 
other  descendants  are  also  more  or  less  pro- 
tected by  statute  in  some  States.  Children 
born  after  a  will  is  made,  if  not  provided  for  or 
properly  mentioned  in  the  will,  are  frequently 

44 


Usual  Objects  of  Bounty  45 

allowed  to  take  as  if  no  will  had  been  made. 
In  some  jurisdictions  a  testator  cannot  en- 
tirely disinherit  his  children,  except  for  cause, 
or  will  away  from  his  family  more  than  a 
certain  part  of  his  property  or  give  more  than 
a  certain  portion  to  charity. 

Where  kindred  are  thus  protected  and  are 
dissatisfied  with  the  terms  of  a  will  there  are 
several  courses  open  to  them.  They  may 
elect  (i)  to  take  under  the  will  and  thus  con- 
sent to  its  provisions,  (2)  to  take  independ- 
ently of  the  will  what  the  law  may  give,  or 
(3)  to  contest  the  will,  and  if  successful  take 
as  if  no  will  had  been  made  and  if  unsuccessful 
take  under  the  will  as  if  it  had  not  been  con- 
tested. To  cope  with  such  privileges  success- 
fully and  make  the  plan  of  the  will  workable 
whether  or  not  the  privileges  are  exercised 
often  requires  the  most  careful  consideration 
on  the  part  of  the  testator  and  his  counsel. 
Special  provisions  must  be  conceived  and 
framed  to  meet  all  possible  contingencies.  As 
far  as  may  be  they  should  also  be  aimed  at 
the  prevention  or  discouragement  of  litigation. 


46  Legal  Point  of  View 

Where  testators  are  not  thus  hampered  by 
statute  they  may  make  such  gifts  to  their 
children  and  other  descendants  as  may  seem 
to  them  best  or  they  may  pass  them  by  and 
give  all  property  to  others.  Where,  how- 
ever, antenuptial  agreements  or  powers  of 
appointment  exist  they  must  be  taken  into 
consideration. 

The  status  of  an  adopted  child  depends  on 
local  legislation.  Statutes  of  adoption  fre- 
quently, if  not  usually,  provide  that  the 
adopted  child  shall  have  the  rights  of  a  child 
including  the  right  of  succession  to  property 
of  the  foster  parent.  Illegitimate  children, 
however,  usually  do  not  inherit  except  from 
their  mother.  Their  status  is  peculiarly  un- 
fortunate and  a  proper  provision  for  them 
requires  great  care. 

Gifts  to  friends  and  employees  require  no 
special  mention  more  than  to  say  that  gifts 
to  employees  are  frequently  conditioned  on 
employment  for  a  longer  or  shorter  period. 

Where  a  donor  wishes  to  benefit  a  person 
without  subjecting  his  gift  to  the  management 


Usual  Objects  of  Bounty  47 

and  disposition  of  that  person  or  to  expose  it 
to  the  claims  of  creditors,  the  gift  must  be 
something  less  than  absolute.  Such  a  desire 
would  suggest  trusts  rather  than  annuities  or 
other  kinds  of  limited  gift. 

The  possible  existence  of  infants  would 
indicate  guardianships  or  other  testamentary 
provisions  for  their  protection.  Except  in 
certain  jurisdictions  where  their  rights  to  hold 
real  estate  depend  upon  treaty  or  statute, 
aliens  are  under  no  disability  as  to  taking  gifts 
of  money  or  other  property. 

Where  a  donor  wishes  to  benefit  a  female 
he  should  consider  whether  it  may  not  be 
of  advantage  to  her  either  to  create  a  trust 
for  her  benefit,  possibly  with  power  of  ap- 
pointment, or  to  make  his  gift  vest  in  her 
for  her  sole  and  separate  use  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  marital  rights  of  any  present  or 
future  husband.  In  some  States  and  foreign 
countries  the  law  insures  to  the  husband  on 
the  death  of  the  wife  as  much  as  one  third  or 
one  half  of  her  property  and  this  right  cannot 
be  defeated  by  an  ordinary  will.  Again,  in 


48  Legal  Point  of  View 

certain  jurisdictions  if  the  wife  dies  without 
a  will  the  husband  takes  all  the  personal 
property  even  to  the  exclusion  of  children. 
Then,  too,  where  the  common  law  doctrine  of 
the  unity  of  person  between  the  husband  and 
wife  has  not  been  fully  met  by  a  married 
women's  act  the  husband's  rights  in  his 
wife's  property  during  her  life  as  well  as  her 
right  to  make  a  will  without  his  consent  may 
not  always  be  clear.  Consequently  the  form 
of  a  gift  to  a  female  requires  special  consider- 
ation. It  also  has  a  peculiar  importance  by 
reason  of  the  fact  that  the  husband  has  the 
legal  right  to  change  the  domicile  of  his  wife 
to  a  jurisdiction  which  may  prove  more 
favourable  to  himself. 


CHAPTER  X 

PRESERVATION  OF  FAMILY  HARMONY 

IN  planning  the  post-mortem  disposition  of 
property  the  donor  can  consider  no  more 
important  feature  of  his  task  than  the  pre- 
servation of  harmonious  relations  within  his 
family.  No  rule  can  be  stated  as  every  donor 
has  a  different  task  from  his  neighbour. 
That  difference  lies  not  only  in  the  amount 
and  character  of  property  to  be  disposed  of, 
but  also  in  the  number,  character,  education, 
sex,  moral  sentiments,  and  personal  peculiar- 
ities of  heart  and  mind  of  the  objects  of 
bounty  as  well  as  their  husbands,  wives,  and 
associates. 

Families  are  frequently  split  by  the  un- 
fortunate division  of  household  and  personal 
effects,  especially  where  sentiment  is  attached 
to  particular  articles.  Unwise  selection  of 

4  49 


50  Legal  Point  of  View 

executors  or  trustees  within  the  family  may 
also  be  a  source  of  friction. 

A  serious  source  of  discontent  is  found  in 
discriminations  made  between  relatives  of 
the  same  degree  of  kinship.  While  this 
discontent  is  directed  primarily  against  the 
giver,  it  has  a  certain  reflex  action  among  the 
donees  particularly  where  undue  influence  is 
suggested  or  where  no  good  reason  for  the 
discrimination  is  so  self-evident  as  to  carry 
conviction  to  a  disappointed  and  unwilling 
mind.  The  most  serious  difficulties,  however, 
arise  from  indifferently  drawn  instruments 
affording  opportunities  for  dispute  as  to 
meaning  or  legality  and  from  home-made  and 
stale  wills  and  misfit  codicils  where  the  soil 
for  disputes  and  litigation  is  peculiarly  fertile. 


CHAPTER  XI 

PROPERTY  TO  BE  TRANSMITTED 

As  a  will  does  not  become  operative  until 
the  death  of  its  maker,  it  can  affect  only  such 
property  as  he  may  then  own  or  over  which 
he  may  have  a  power  of  disposition.  The 
testator's  plans,  therefore,  should  embrace  all 
equitable  estates,  contingent  as  well  as  vested 
interests,  capable  of  passing  as  intestate 
property,  all  property  which  he  may  acquire 
after  making  his  will,  and  all  property  over 
which  he  may  have  a  power  of  appointment. 
Property  held  by  the  entirety  or  strictly  in 
joint  tenancy  passes  only  by  the  will  of  the 
survivor. 

Besides  considering  his  property  in  bulk, 
it  is  often  important  for  the  owner  to  make 
special  plans  affecting  particular  property 
such  as  his  home,  furniture,  jewelry,  clothing, 

51 


52  Legal  Point  of  View 

business,  cemetery  plot,  real  estate  subject  to 
mortgage,  personal  property  which  is  subject 
to  a  lien,  franchises,  insurance  policies,  com- 
munity property,  property  subject  to  appoint- 
ment, and  the  like.  Thus  he  may  have 
special  plans  in  relation  to  the  use  and  main- 
tenance of  his  cemetery  plot;  he  may  wish  to 
make  gifts  of  specific  property,  provide  for 
the  payment  of  mortgage  or  other  debts 
out  of  particular  funds,  provide  for  the  con- 
tinuance, winding  up,  or  incorporation  of  his 
business,  etc. 

Special  powers  affecting  particular  property 
may  be  important  subjects  of  consideration. 
Thus,  as  affecting  real  estate,  it  may  be 
desirable  to  give  the  executors  or  trustees 
power  to  sell,  mortgage,  exchange,  or  lease, 
to  operate  mines,  to  subdivide  into  lots,  to 
destroy  old  buildings  and  erect  new  ones,  and 
the  like.  As  affecting  stocks  and  bonds  it 
may  be  deemed  wise  to  provide  powers  touch- 
ing their  retention  as  investments,  voting 
thereon,  corporate  reorganisations,  etc.  In 
the  hands  of  competent  executors  and  trustees 


Property  to  be  Transmitted        53 

broad  and  comprehensive  powers  are  often 
of  the  greatest  value  to  an  estate  particularly 
where  it  is  involved  or  unusual  situations  are 
presented. 


CHAPTER  XII 

CHARACTER  OF  GIFTS 

THE  character  or  form  of  gift  is  the  key  to 
the  post-mortem  power  of  wealth.  It  is  the 
turning  point  between  wisdom  and  folly  in 
the  transmission  of  property.  It  should  be 
the  direct  consequence  of  a  due  consideration 
of  the  age,  sex,  character,  habits,  and  associa- 
tions of  the  persons  to  be  benefited. 

Thus  an  intelligent  determination  of  the 
character  or  form  of  gift  suggests  many 
important  questions. 

Shall  the  gift  be  of  money  or  of  a  specific 
article  or  particular  piece  of  property?  If 
money  is  given,  is  its  payment  to  be  a  charge 
against  the  real  as  well  as  the  personal  estate? 
What,  if  any,  preference  is  to  be  given  as  to 
payment  in  case  of  a  shortage  in  assets? 
Where  a  specific  article  or  piece  of  property  is 

54 


Character  of  Gifts  55 

to  be  given  and  the  gift  is  not  to  take  effect 
immediately  as  in  the  case  of  a  will  what,  if 
anything,  is  to  take  its  place,  if  at  the  proper 
time  such  property  has  been  disposed  of  or 
cannot  be  found? 

If  a  gift  is  to  carry  with  it  the  right  of  im- 
mediate possession  or  enjoyment  shall  it  be 
absolute  in  character?  Shall  it  be  subject  to 
a  condition  which  must  be  performed  before 
the  gift  can  take  effect?  Shall  it  be  subject 
to  a  condition  which  permits  the  gift  to  take 
effect  under  a  penalty  of  possible  forfeiture? 
In  case  of  the  breach  or  nonfulfilment  of  the 
condition,  to  whom  shall  the  property  pass? 
On  what  contingency  shall  the  condition  de- 
pend: marriage,  birth,  death  without  issue, 
death  before  a  certain  age,  survivorship,  bank- 
ruptcy, disputing  or  failing  to  dispute  a  will, 
et  cetera? 

If  a  gift  is  to  be  to  several  persons  is  it  to 
be  for  each  separately  or  for  all  collectively? 
If  for  all  are  they  to  take  as  a  class,  as  joint 
tenants,  or  as  tenants  in  common?  Shall 
after-born  persons  share  with  those  previously 


56  Legal  Point  of  View 

born?  What  provisions  are  desired  as  to 
survivorship  or  the  prevention  of  lapse?  In 
case  of  survivorship  to  what  point  of  time  is 
the  survivorship  to  relate? 

If  a  gift  is  to  a  wife  or  other  person  having 
statutory  rights  shall  it  be  in  addition  to  or  in 
lieu  of  dower  or  other  such  rights? 

If  a  use  is  given  shall  it  be  for  life  or  for  a 
less  period?  Shall  the  use  carry  the  right  of 
possession  of  the  particular  thing,  or  only  a 
right  to  the  income  without  the  right  of 
possession?  Shall  the  use  carry  with  it  a 
right  of  disposal  of  the  thing  itself  during  life 
or  after  death?  If  the  use  is  to  be  given 
through  a  trustee,  shall  the  trustee  possess  a 
power  to  apply  principal,  as  well  as  income? 

If  a  trust  is  intended,  is  the  donor's  purpose 
such  that  it  may  be  lawfully  accomplished? 
How  long  shall  the  trust  continue  and  how 
shall  it  be  terminated?  Shall  the  income  be 
paid  over  in  gross  or  only  after  the  usual 
deductions  as  for  taxes,  expenses,  etc?  From 
what  time  shall  the  income  begin  to  accrue? 
Shall  the  income  be  subject  to  anticipation,  to 


Character  of  Gifts  57 

assignment,  or  to  attack  by  creditors?  How 
shall  the  income  be  applied  or  paid  over? 
What  rights,  if  any,  shall  a  wife  and  children 
of  the  beneficiary  have  in  the  income?  In 
case  there  shall  be  an  excess  of  income  shall 
it  be  accumulated,  and  if  not  how  shall  it  be 
applied?  Finally,  after  the  use  terminates, 
what  disposition  is  to  be  made  of  the  property 
itself? 

Since  in  the  planning  of  gifts  all  these 
questions  and  many  others  must  be  deter- 
mined unconsciously  if  not  consciously  it  is 
the  part  of  wisdom  and  good  stewardship  to 
meet  them  squarely  and  to  decide  them 
intelligently.  By  so  doing  the  possessor  of 
wealth  prevents  his  property  from  becoming 
a  drifting  derelict  for  the  wrecking  of  char- 
acter and  careers  and  converts  it  into  a  living 
force  building  for  the  good  of  the  individual 
and  of  mankind. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

SELECTION  OF  CHARITABLE  OBJECTS 

ADDISON  says  "charity  is  a  virtue  of  the 
heart  and  not  of  the  hands/*  This  is  true  of 
lazy  charity  and  is  specially  applicable  to  in- 
discriminate giving.  Wise  charity  is  an  affair 
of  heart,  head,  and  hand  for  it  implies  an 
intelligent  sympathy,  a  definite  purpose,  and 
a  practical  business  sagacity  acting  in  unison. 

So  to  give  as  to  accomplish  true  charity 
during  life  or  after  death  is  often  a  most  per- 
plexing question  both  to  the  possessor  of 
wealth  and  to  his  legal  adviser.  Before  one 
can  intelligently  act  or  advise  in  the  selection 
of  a  charity  he  should  take  a  general  survey 
of  the  purposes  toward  which  charitable  gifts 
may  be  directed  and  the  principles  that  should 
underlie  such  gifts. 

The  main  purpose  of  charitable  gifts  is  to 
58 


Selection  of  Charitable  Objects      59 

better  the  condition  of  man.  The  most  potent 
force  in  that  betterment  is  personality.  The 
next  most  potent  force  is  money,  that  great 
commander  of  the  world's  resources.  And 
here  lies  the  opportunity  of  wealth  to  unite 
potentiality  and  personality.  The  giver  of 
personality  makes  the  largest  gift  to  mankind. 
His  close  second  is  the  giver  who  furnishes  the 
means  whereby  the  giver  of  his  personality 
may  be  made  the  more  effective  or  whereby 
other  givers  of  both  personality  and  fortune 
may  be  raised  up  to  carry  on  indefinitely  the 
work  of  bettering  the  condition  of  man. 

Most  fortunate  is  the  man  who  can  both 
contribute  of  his  wealth  and  administer  his 
charitable  gifts  in  his  lifetime  and  most 
fortunate  is  the  age  and  the  community  which 
possesses  such  men. 

The  purposes  for  which  money  may  be 
given  in  charity  are  in  general  well  defined. 
They  may  be  enumerated  as  educational 
advancement,  moral,  political,  and  physical 
improvement,  and  physical  and  financial 
relief. 


60  Legal  Point  of  View 

Educational  advancement  is  attained 
through  manual  training  as  by  trades  schools, 
art  schools,  sewing  schools,  cooking  schools, 
and  the  like.  It  is  attained  through  primary 
instruction  as  by  kindergartens  and  primary 
schools.  It  is  attained  through  secondary 
instruction  as  by  high  schools,  academies,  and 
preparatory  schools.  It  is  attained  through 
higher  education  as  by  laboratory,  college, 
and  university.  While  the  enlargement  of 
the  boundaries  of  human  knowledge  through 
research  may  not  be  strictly  educational  it  is 
often  carried  on  in  our  highest  institutions  of 
learning  and  is  frequently  so  classified  and 
regarded  as  the  acme  of  higher  education. 

Moral  improvement  is  effected  through 
moral  and  religious  training  as  in  churches, 
religious  societies  and  orders,  Christian  asso- 
ciations, Bible  societies,  missions,  settlements, 
clubs,  societies  for  the  promotion  of  temper- 
ance, the  suppression  of  vice,  the  study  of 
labour,  and  other  social  questions. 

Political  improvement  may  be  effected  by 
means  of  gifts  in  aid  of  the  study  and  pro- 


Selection  of  Charitable  Objects      61 

mulgation  of  legislative  and  administrative 
reforms  as  by  the  establishment  of  scholar- 
ships, lectureships,  publication  funds,  and 
gifts  to  municipal  and  civic  leagues,  good 
government  clubs,  patriotic  societies,  societies 
for  the  development  of  better  elective  methods 
and  kindred  objects. 

Monuments,  statues,  conservatories,  scholar- 
ships, fellowships,  lectureships,  libraries,  read- 
ing rooms,  museums,  art  galleries,  and  halls 
for  public  meetings  administer  to  political 
and  social  betterment  as  well  as  to  the  pro- 
motion of  education,  morals,  and  religion. 

Physical  relief  is  administered  through 
societies  designed  to  aid  the  needy,  destitute, 
delinquent,  neglected,  defective,  and  sick, 
both  young  and  old,  through  hospitals, 
asylums,  homes,  and  lodging  houses,  and  by 
furnishing  employment,  necessaries,  medical 
services,  burials,  and  the  like.  With  these 
in  a  way  may  also  be  classed  societies  for 
preventing  cruelty  to  children  and  to  animals. 

Physical  improvement  is  attained  through 
parks,  playgrounds,  baths,  athletics,  and 


62  Legal  Point  of  View 

societies  for  the  improvement  of  living  con- 
ditions and  to  render  occupations  more 
healthful. 

Financial  relief  is  effected  by  temporary 
loans  and  by  legal  aid — most  wholesome 
charities  and  great  preventives  of  crime. 

Certain  other  benefactions  have  an  ex- 
ceptionally broad  scope  and  far  reaching  effect. 
Such  are  gifts  of  public  parks,  fountains, 
public  baths,  playgrounds,  and  for  the  bet- 
terment of  living  and  labour  conditions. 
Perhaps  the  most  far  reaching  of  all  are 
corporations  or  foundations  devoted  to  the 
establishment  and  maintenance  of  permanent 
funds  from  which  the  income  is  distributed 
among  deserving  educational  or  other  charities. 

Akin  to  this  class  are  also  societies  for  the 
support  of  domestic  and  foreign  missions 
which  administer  to  the  physical,  mental, 
and  moral  welfare  of  man. 

Although  the  foregoing  classification  may 
be  of  service  in  some  respects  it  must  not  be 
followed  blindly.  Each  form  of  charity  in 
greater  or  less  degree  partakes  of  some 


Selection  of  Charitable  Objects      63 

other.  The  idea  of  education  as  it  enters  into 
charitable  purposes  is  doubtless  the  largest 
and  most  fundamental.  It  is  the  basis  of 
substantially  all  charity,  save  perhaps  in  some 
forms  of  distinctively  relief  work.  No  charity 
stands  alone.  Every  charity  affects  others 
either  directly  or  indirectly.  Thus  all  charity 
has  not  only  a  primary,  but  also  a  secondary- 
purpose  which  requires  consideration. 

The  fundamental  ideas  underlying  wise 
charity  are  education  and  self-help,  with  re- 
lief and  betterment  of  conditions  as  tempor- 
ary and  contributing  agencies.  Relief  which 
does  not  encourage  self-help  is  pauperising 
and  objectionable  except  in  the  case  of  very 
young  children,  incurables,  and  the  aged, 
where  it  becomes  merciful  and  Christian. 
Gifts  for  the  betterment  of  the  physical, 
mental,  moral,  political,  and  social  condition 
of  man  are  usually  less  open  to  the  objection 
of  pauperisation  than  gifts  for  physical  or 
financial  relief. 

Charities  are  corrective  or  preventive  in 
their  operation.  From  an  investment  point 


64  Legal  Point  of  View 

of  view  preventive  work  appeals  more  strongly 
to  the  average  giver  but  the  sympathetic  mind 
is  moved  more  to  aid  in  the  relief  of  the 
unfortunate  and  in  the  uplift  of  the  degraded. 
Be  that  as  it  may  the  variety  in  charitable 
purposes  and  their  needs  is  so  great  that  all 
givers  should  be  able  to  find  suitable  objects 
of  gift. 

With  this  wide  range  of  charitable  objects 
to  choose  from  what  considerations  should 
move  the  mind  of  the  giver  in  making  his 
choice  of  objects  to  which  he  will  give  his 
service  or  his  wealth?  The  first  considera- 
tion should  be  the  amount  of  time  or  money 
to  be  given,  the  second,  the  selection  of  the 
purpose  which  appeals  most  strongly  to  the 
conscience  and  good  judgment  of  the  giver. 

In  determining  these  questions  the  giver 
has  before  him  the  claims  of  local  as  well  as 
of  national  and  international  charities.  He 
should  also  determine  various  other  questions, 
as  for  example:  Will  the  gift  tend  to  pauper- 
isation or  self-help?  Is  the  institution  wisely 
managed?  Is  it  assured  the  active  and  dis- 


Selection  of  Charitable  Objects      65 

interested  co-operation  of  a  numerous  body 
of  supporters?  Is  the  gift  likely  to  dry  up 
the  supporting  generosity  of  the  public?  Is 
the  necessity  for  such  work  likely  to  continue? 
Will  the  gift  tend  to  an  unwise  duplication  of 
effort  or  to  strengthen  worthy  hands  already 
at  work? 

After  the  giver  has  decided  on  the  charitable 
object  he  must  determine  whether  his  gift  is 
to  contemplate: 

(1)  Expenditure  of  capital: 

(a)  for  general  purposes 

(b)  for  special  purposes  such  as 

to  erect  a  dormitory 

to  erect  a  hospital 

to  buy  land 

to  buy  books  for  library  and  the  like 

(2)  Permanent  investment  of  capital  (endowment) 

and  expenditure  of  income  only 
(a)  for  general  purposes 
(&)    for  special  purposes  such  as 
to  buy  books  for  library 
to  maintain  a  kindergarten 
to  maintain  scholarships  and  the  like. 

If  the  gift  is  to  be  memorial  in  nature 
various  other  matters  will  suggest  themselves 
to  the  mind  of  the  giver  for  his  consideration. 


66  Legal  Point  of  View 

While  a  careful  consideration  of  all  the 
points  indicated  may  be  a  tedious  under- 
taking and  not  necessary  in  the  case  of  small 
gifts,  where  a  life  is  to  be  devoted  to  philan- 
thropic work  or  where  benefactions  are  to  be 
large  a  careful  study  of  the  subject  is  an 
economic  necessity. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

TAXATION  OF  ESTATES 

ESTATES  of  deceased  persons  are  in  general 
subject  to  the  usual  annual  taxes  imposed 
on  real  and  personal  property.  In  a  large 
majority  of  the  States  an  inheritance  or  trans- 
fer tax  is  also  imposed  on  property  which 
passes  at  the  death  of  the  owner  and  in  the 
greater  number  of  such  States  the  tax  affects 
not  only  gifts  to  strangers  and  collateral 
relatives,  but  also  to  spouse  and  descendants. 
Even  gifts  made  during  life  to  take  effect 
either  in  possession  or  enjoyment  at  or  after 
the  death  of  the  giver  are  ordinarily  taxable. 
Where,  however,  absolute  gifts  are  made 
during  life  they  are  not  usually  taxable  unless 
in  law  they  amount  to  gifts  made  in  con- 
templation of  death,  a  question  sometimes 

67 


68  Legal  Point  of  View 

difficult  for  the  courts  to  determine.  Gifts 
to  certain  charities  are  often  exempt. 

Where  an  inheritance  tax  is  to  be  paid  the 
donor  should  consider  whether  he  may  wish 
to  have  the  payment  made  out  of  the  particular 
gift  or  out  of  his  general  estate  and  make 
provision  accordingly. 

The  inheritance  taxes  in  this  country  are 
taking  on  the  graduated  feature  found  in  Eng- 
land. At  the  present  time  nearly  one  half  of 
the  States  have  adopted  that  method  of  taxa- 
tion. In  six  States  the  maximum  is  fifteen 
per  cent.  In  New  York  as  these  pages  go 
to  press  the  maximum  is  twenty-five  per  cent, 
with  a  fair  prospect  of  a  repeal  of  the  pre- 
sent law  and  a  return  to  the  flat  rate  of 
one  per  cent  on  gifts  to  near  relatives  and 
five  per  cent  on  gifts  to  collateral  relatives 
and  strangers. 

Oklahoma's  inheritance  tax  law  is  certainly 
unique.  All  inheritances  and  bequests  above 
moderate  exemptions  are  taxed  from  one  to 
one  hundred  per  cent  depending  on  kinship 
and  amount.  The  rates  begin  with  one  or 


Taxation  of  Estates  69 

five  per  cent  on  small  sums  and  increase  a 
fraction  of  one  per  cent  on  each  additional  one 
hundred  dollars.  As  there  is  no  limit  to  such 
increase  it  soon  mounts  up  to  one  hundred 
per  cent.  The  constitutionality  of  this  law 
is  yet  to  be  tested.  What  makes  it  of  general 
importance  is  the  fact  that  investments  within 
that  State,  including  stock  in  local  corpora- 
tions held  by  non-residents,  are  subject  to  this 
tax  if  held  at  the  time  of  death. 

Death  duties  in  England,  in  one  form  or 
another,  have  been  growing  since  1694  an(i 
recently,  by  the  Finance  Act  of  1910,  they 
have  been  again  materially  increased.  Gifts 
passing  on  death  are  now5  taxed  in  the  United 
Kingdom,  one,  five,  or  ten  per  cent,  according 
to  kinship.  Another  tax  is  imposed  upon  the 
estate  generally,  and  paid  as  an  expense  of 
administration.  Its  rate  is  graded  according 
to  the  amount  of  property  left  by  the  de- 
ceased and  ranges  from  one  per  cent  on  small 
estates  to  fifteen  per  cent  on  that  part  of  an 
estate  which  is  in  excess  of  one  million  pounds. 
A  further  estate  duty  of  two  per  cent  is 


70  Legal  Point  of  View 

collected,  with  certain  exceptions,  on  settle- 
ments made  by  the  will  of  the  deceased  or 
which  pass  by  reason  of  his  death. 

The  question  of  the  taxation  of  estates  of 
deceased  persons  under  present  laws,  to  say 
nothing  of  new  ones  which  may  be  enacted, 
warrants  the  most  diligent  attention  of  counsel 
and  full  consideration  on  the  part  of  the  owner 
before  he  can  wisely  make  investments,  select 
executors  and  trustees,  or  plan  the  disposition 
of  any  considerable  estate.  Where  care  is 
not  exercised  an  inheritance  tax  on  the  same 
property  is  frequently  collected  in  two  different 
States  or  countries,  thus  producing  a  double 
taxation.  Aside  from  Oklahoma  such  taxes 
under  present  laws  affecting  collaterals  fre- 
quently amount  to  ten  and  sometimes  fifteen 
per  cent  on  small  estates,  while  on  large  estates 
the  rate  may  easily  be  as  high  as  thirty  or  even 
thirty-six  and  one  quarter  per  cent,  particularly 
in  the  case  of  English  estates  invested  in  any 
one  of  six  States,  and  more  if  invested  in 
New  York  while  the  present  law  stands. 
Taxation  of  the  same  property  in  three 


Taxation  of  Estates  71 

jurisdictions,  while  possible  under  several 
statutes,  is  as  yet  comparatively  infrequent. 
Conditions  may  be  conceived,  however,  under 
which  certain  property  may  be  subjected  to 
inheritance  taxes  by  the  laws  of  four  juris- 
diction. 

In  addition  to  inheritance  taxes  the  annual 
taxes  on  trust  funds,  in  some  instances,  exceed 
one  half  of  the  income,  and  the  courts  have 
held  that  it  is  no  part  of  the  duty  of  an  exe- 
cutor or  trustee  to  attempt  to  benefit  an  estate 
by  evading  taxations. 

Under  present  tax  laws  the  natural  impulse 
is  akin  to  that  of  self-preservation.  Many 
persons  consider  themselves  under  a  moral 
obligation,  even  at  some  personal  sacrifice,  to 
take  advantage  of  such  proper  means  as  the 
law  affords  either  to  render  their  gifts  non-tax- 
able or  to  reduce  to  a  minimum  a  tax  which 
they  regard  as  unreasonable  and  unjust  to 
the  point  of  confiscation.  Indeed  the  con- 
stitutions and  the  laws  of  this  country  are 
such  that  where  the  estate  of  a  person  of  large 
wealth  residing  in  this  country  or  even  in 


72  Legal  Point  of  View 

England  is  burdened  with  excessive  inheritance 
taxes  or  death  duties  it  is  only  because  he 
lacked  inclination  or  was  dilatory  or  care- 
less in  the  adjustment  of  his  affairs  or  in  the 
preparation  of  his  will  or  other  instrument 
disposing  of  his  property.  While  Englishmen 
are  under  greater  disadvantages  in  this  re- 
spect than  Americans  yet  even  they  by  proper 
precautions  at  home  and  proper  business 
relations  with  this  country  are  able  to  share 
in  the  benefits  of  a  constitutional  government 
and  thus  relieve  their  estates  of  what  would 
otherwise  amount  to  enormous  burdens  of 
taxation.  As  all  this  is  legally  possible  with- 
out changing  one's  residence  and  without 
resorting  to  any  of  the  questionable  or  danger- 
ous expedients  so  frequently  suggested,  it 
seems  safe  to  predict  that  unless  the  present 
death  duties  at  home  and  abroad  are  sub- 
stantially reduced,  owners  of  property  will 
take  advantage  of  all  lawful  means  to  reduce 
taxes  until  eventually  a  majority  of  large 
estates  will  on  the  death  of  their  owners  pass 
comparatively  free  from  taxation. 


CHAPTER  XV 

SELECTION  OF  EXECUTORS  AND  TRUSTEES 

THE  prime  factors  in  determining  the 
selection  of  executors  and  trustees  to  ad- 
minister an  estate  after  death  should  be 
(i)  safety  and  (2)  efficiency. 

The  method  most  often  adopted  to  secure 
these  qualities  is  to  rely  upon  the  character 
and  financial  standing  of  the  persons  appointed : 
a  course  which  may  be  supplemented  by 
requiring  bonds  to  be  given  by  individuals 
or  surety  companies.  Another  method  is 
to  appoint  a  trust  company  to  act  alone  or 
jointly  with  one  or  more  persons. 

Where  individuals  are  selected,  whether 
relatives,  legal  advisers,  or  friends,  their  in- 
tegrity, ability,  personal  and  business  habits 
and  associations  should  be  the  subject  of  con- 
cern. Preference  may  well  be  given  to  a 

73 


74  Legal  Point  of  View 

male  rather  than  to  a  female,  to  the  man  who 
has  no  adverse  interest,  who  is  morally  sound, 
whose  family  is  not  extravagant,  who  has  a 
means  of  livelihood,  who  does  not  live  beyond 
his  means,  who  has  good  and  regular  business 
habits,  who  is  moderately  successful,  who  does 
not  make  speculation  a  business,  who  does  not 
buy  and  sell  on  margin,  who  has  a  mind  of 
his  own  but  is  not  self-opinionated  and  who 
is  free  from  prejudice,  capable  of  discrimina- 
tion, sound  in  judgment,  and  considerate  of 
the  rights  of  others. 

Where  there  are  no  trusts,  where  the  corpus 
of  the  estate  is  to  be  divided,  and  where  family 
jealousies  are  not  likely  to  be  aroused  there  can 
be  no  objection  to  the  selection  of  executors 
solely  on  the  ground  of  interest  or  kinship. 
If,  however,  a  trust  is  contemplated  different 
considerations  necessarily  enter  into  the  selec- 
tion of  a  trustee.  Thus  a  beneficiary,  whether 
a  life- tenant  or  remainderman,  is  an  unfit 
person  in  law  and  in  fact  by  reason  of  interest. 
Near  relatives  are  objectionable  for  the  same 
reason  and  because  they  are  "less  able  to 


Selection  of  Executors  and  Trustees     75 

withstand  the  importunities  of  beneficiaries." 
In  the  same  way,  where  a  husband,  wife, 
parent,  or  other  near  relative  is  appointed 
trustee  such  relationship  "is  too  often  made 
an  excuse  for  lax  management,  and  the  know- 
ledge that  a  breach  of  trust  is  likely  to  be 
condoned  not  infrequently  leads  to  a  disregard 
of  strictly  legal  management  which  is  the  only 
safeguard  of  trust  estates. " 

Where  a  trust  company  is  selected,  after 
giving  due  weight  to  capital,  surplus,  and 
reputation  it  is  also  proper  to  consider  the 
personnel  of  the  directors,  officers,  counsel, 
and  employees  who  are  to  constitute  the 
human  agency  through  which  it  must  act. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  INSTRUMENT  OF  DISPOSITION 

As  the  use  to  be  made  of  property  after  death 
depends  upon  the  instrument  of  disposition 
executed  during  life,  its  character  and  the 
method  of  its  preparation  require  a  few  words. 

We  have  seen  in  a  preceding  chapter  that 
the  instruments  most  commonly  employed  are 
wills  and  deeds  of  trust  or  settlement.  The 
former  take  effect  only  at  death  and  are 
subject  to  change  during  life.  The  latter  are 
primarily  designed  for  making  gifts  to  take 
effect  during  life  and  may  or  may  not  be 
subject  to  change.  In  other  respects  the 
instruments  are  quite  similar;  the  forms  of 
gift  which  may  be  made  under  each  are  in 
general  the  same,  as  also  are  some  of  the 
limitations  on  the  power  of  giving.  For 
present  purposes,  therefore,  it  will  be  more 

76 


The  Instrument  of  Disposition       77 

convenient  as  well  as  more  profitable  not  to 
attempt  any  further  distinctions,  but  rather 
to  direct  our  attention  to  the  class  of  instru- 
ment most  commonly  used. 

The  first  requisite  to  a  satisfactory  trans- 
mission of  property  is  a  properly  planned 
instrument.  The  second  requisite  is  a  pro- 
perly prepared  instrument.  The  third  re- 
quisite is  the  selection  of  proper  executors 
and  trustees.  The  first  and  third  requisites 
are  subjects  of  former  chapters.  The  second 
requisite  still  remains. 

"  While  yet  I  am  alive  let  my  will  be  made 
safe  and  sound;  for  I  cannot  repair  it  after 
death."  This  is  usually  the  burden  on  the 
mind  of  the  prudent  man  desiring  to  provide 
for  the  proper  transmission  of  his  property, 
and  thus  to  fulfil  his  obligations  to  his  family 
and  to  society. 

Experience  in  the  ante-mortem  criticism  of 
wills  has  shown  that  notwithstanding  the 
obvious  importance  of  such  a  writing  about 
sixty  per  cent  of  wills  drawn  by  lawyers  con- 
tain some  obscurity,  flaw,  or  omission  which 


78  Legal  Point  of  View 

renders  them,  at  least  in  some  respects,  unsafe 
or  unsound.  Among  wills  drawn  by  laymen 
the  percentage  of  defective  instruments  is  far 
greater 

The  popular  notion  that  nothing  is  more 
simple  than  the  preparation  of  a  will  is  a 
fallacy.  The  fact  is  more  accurately  de- 
scribed by  the  words  of  Lord  Coke,  that: 
"Wills  and  the  construction  of  them,  do  more 
perplex  a  man  than  any  other  learning/1 
And  as  Professor  Gray  says:  "In  no  civilised 
country  is  the  making  of  a  will  so  delicate 
an  operation  and  so  likely  to  fail  of  success  as 
in  New  York/' 

There  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  folly  of  a 
layman  undertaking  to  draw  a  will.  The 
only  point  on  which  there  can  be  a  fair  dif- 
ference of  opinion  is  as  to  the  qualifications 
of  a  lawyer  to  whom  the  task  may,  be  com- 
mitted. On  that  point  each  person  must 
judge  for  himself,  remembering  that  in  testa- 
mentary law,  as  in  other  branches  of  legal 
work,  there  are  all  grades  of  learning  and 
experience  from  which  to  choose  and  that 


The  Instrument  of  Disposition       79 

lawyers  like  laymen  are  human  and  not 
infallible.  Warren  in  his  Law  Studies  says 
that  a  lawyer  who  undertakes  to  act  in  the 
preparation  of  a  will  is  "  bound  morally  as  well 
as  legally  to  possess  a  familiar  and  accurate 
practical  knowledge  of  the  leading  rules 
applicable  thereto/1  He  certainly  is  required 
to  bring  to  his  task  the  utmost  good  faith, 
due  diligence,  and  a  high  sense  of  professional 
duty.  Virgil  M.  Harris,  an  eminent  writer 
on  wills  and  lecturer  on  testamentary  law  in 
the  St.  Louis  University,  in  a  recent  address 
said: 

It  is  a  fact  that  not  one  lawyer  in  ten  can  properly 
construct  a  will,  except  it  be  of  the  simplest  nature, 
unless  his  experience  in  this  line  of  work  has  been 
extensive  and  he  has  seen  the  practical  every-day 
results  of  errors  and  faulty  composition.  Accurate 
will-writing  is  an  art  which  comes  from  practice  and 
experience  and  requires,  in  most  instances,  a  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  the  law.  One  of  the  strangest 
facts  in  legal  history  is  that  a  great  number  of  eminent 
lawyers  have  constructed  for  themselves  defective 
wills;  it  means  nothing  more,  however,  than  that  their 
abilities  did  not  lie  in  the  direction  of  will- writing. 

In  preparing  the  most  simple  document 


8o  Legal  Point  of  View 

every  person  experiences  difficulty  in  using 
the  English  language  so  as  to  convey  his 
exact  meaning  beyond  the  possibility  of  a 
misunderstanding  or  double  reading.  In  a 
will  this  difficulty  is  much  increased.  Most 
instruments  are  designed  to  take  effect  at  the 
time  they  are  written ;  not  so  in  the  case  of  a 
will.  It  does  not  become  operative  under 
conditions  existing  at  the  time  it  is  made. 
It  speaks  only  from  death  and  must  be  made 
to  fit  the  conditions  that  may  then  exist.  In 
many  cases  it  must  also  deal  with  circum- 
stances of  family  and  estate  as  they  may  arise 
from  time  to  time  after  death  during  the  lives 
of  one  or  more  persons. 

A  forecast  of  all  contingencies  which  may 
arise  in  family  or  estate  is  no  easy  matter  and 
to  provide  for  them  properly  when  foreseen 
is  often  a  difficult  task  for  the  most  skilful 
testamentary  writers  and  the  best  lawyers 
sometimes  differ  on  the  legal  propositions  thus 
presented.  Yet  these  are  the  problems  which 
confront  every  person  who  undertakes  the 
actual  preparation  of  a  will.  Nevertheless 


The  Instrument  of  Disposition       81 

thousands  of  persons  each  year,  with  indif- 
ferent qualifications  and  unbounded  con- 
fidence in  their  own  ability,  rush  in  where 
persons  of  experience  fear  to  tread.  Thus 
is  fed  the  ever  swollen  stream  of  wasteful, 
malignant,  and  interminable  litigation  con- 
cerning wills. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

INSURANCE  OF  WILLS 

UNLIKE  a  deed  or  contract  there  is  only  one 
party  to  a  will.  It  is  therefore  prepared  from 
a  single  point  of  view  and  generally  by  one 
hand  without  the  benefit  of  criticism  from  any 
adverse  interest.  After  death,  when  it  is  too 
late  to  make  the  slightest  change,  it  is  for  the 
first  time  subjected  to  the  stress  of  scrutiny  by 
others.  From  divergent  points  of  interest  with 
the  greatest  zeal,  every  possible  ambiguity, 
flaw,  or  omission  is  then  hunted  out  and  the 
most  is  made  of  it.1 

Some  deem  it  wise,  consequently,  to  indulge 
in  a  sort  of  insurance  by  requiring  their  legal 
adviser  when  drawing  a  will  to  submit  to  one 

1  For  example  the  famous  will  of  the  late  Mary  Baker  G. 
Eddy  is  at  the  present  writing  being  subjected  to  this  trying 
ordeal  probably  to  be  followed  by  litigation. 

82 


Insurance  of  Wills  83 

or  more  persons  especially  skilled  in  the  pre- 
paration of  such  instruments  a  preliminary 
draft,  or  after  execution,  a  complete  copy 
of  the  will  for  an  independent  ante-mortem 
interpretation  and  opinion.  In  this  manner  a 
will  may  be  subjected  to  as  searching  and 
critical  an  examination  before  the  death  of  its 
maker  as  it  is  likely  to  receive  after  his  death. 
Such  an  examination  and  interpretation  by 
experienced  minds  fresh  to  the  task,  if  pro- 
perly done,  should  reveal  any  "weak  spots" 
that  may  exist  or  demonstrate  their  absence. 
Indeed,  such  a  test  of  any  existing  will  is  a 
wise  precaution.  It  is  peculiarly  important 
where  wills  are  more  or  less  stale,  have  one  or 
more  codicils,  or  where  strife  is  likely  to  be 
instigated  after  death. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

PROCRASTINATION,    AN   UNMIXED  EVIL 

IT  is  unfortunate  for  persons  even  of  small 
property  to  die  without  having  set  their 
worldly  affairs  in  order.  It  is  particularly 
unfortunate  and  a  very  common  occurrence 
for  persons  of  large  means  contemplating  wise 
post-mortem  uses  of  their  fortunes  to  have 
their  plans  thwarted  by  untimely  death.  It 
is  almost  criminal  for  a  man  whose  affairs  are 
in  an  unsatisfactory  condition  to  delay  in 
making  suitable  provision  for  the  post-mortem 
administration  of  his  estate  by  committing  it 
to  proper  hands  provided  with  ample  powers 
to  meet  such  emergencies  as  may  arise. 
Carelessness  in  such  matters  imposes  un- 
necessary burdens  and  hardships.  A  few 
skilfully  written  words  save  much  trouble 
and  expense  to  the  living,  avert  family 
disputes,  and  conserve  the  interests  of  all. 

84 


Procrastination,  an  Unmixed  Evil    85 

At  no  period  in  the  history  of  the  world  has 
preparedness  for  sudden  death  been  more 
appropriate  than  the  present.  In  addition 
to  natural  causes  incident  to  the  stress  of 
modern  business  methods  all  means  of  public 
and  private  travel,  by  land  and  water,  have 
been  accelerated  to  the  last  degree  and  even 
mechanical  flight  is  at  hand.  No  one  can 
travel  by  rail  or  on  a  public  highway  at  the 
modern  rate  of  speed,  or  even  as  a  pedestrian 
cross  some  of  our  thoroughfares,  without 
occasion  for  serious  thought  of  family  and 
estate.  Such  thoughts,  however,  are  useless 
unless  followed  by  action — prompt  action 
leading  to  a  safe  and  sound  instrument  and 
a  quiet  mind. 


PART  II 

Ethical  Point  of  View 


PRINCIPLES  WHICH  SHOULD  GOVERN  THE 
MAKING  OF  BEQUESTS  FOR  PHILAN- 
THROPIC PURPOSES 

By 
FELIX  ADLER,  PH.D., 

Leader,  The  Society  for  Ethical  Culture,  of 
New  York 

A  FEW  suggestions  are  here  offered  intended 
rather  to  stimulate  thinking  than  to  formulate 
precise  rules. 

i .  Gratitude  toward  persons  or  institutions 
that  have  exercised  a  markedly  beneficent 
influence  on  one's  own  development:  this 
point  is  too  obvious  to  require  elabora- 
tion. Gifts  and  bequests  made  to  schools 
and  colleges  belong  in  this  category.  At  the 
present  day  it  may  even  be  desirable  to  issue 
a  warning  against  the  lavishing  of  favours 

89 


90  Ethical  Point  of  View 

upon  one's  own  college  to  the  neglect  of  other 
institutions  that  perhaps  are  more  in  need 
and  equally  deserving.  Partisan  loyalty 
should  not  obscure  the  claims  of  dispassionate 
philanthropy. 

2.  Special  interest  in  those  who  follow  the 
same  calling.  Benefactions  under  this  head 
would  have  for  their  object  to  enlarge  the 
opportunities  and  to  remove  the  kinds  of 
distress  peculiar  to  those  whose  work  in  life 
is  the  same  as  our  own.  Physicians,  lawyers, 
clergymen,  artists,  merchants,  teachers,  etc., 
have  a  special  obligation  toward  their  col- 
leagues. Obligation  corresponds  to  familiar- 
ity with  needs:  we  know  better  the  needs  of 
persons  in  the  same  walk  of  life  than  those  of 
outsiders;  we  know  in  the  former  case  exactly 
where  the  shoe  is  likely  to  pinch;  we  can, 
therefore,  act  more  wisely  in  providing  means 
of  improvement  and  relief.  The  endowment 
of  chairs  for  the  teaching  of  subjects  not  yet 
included  in  the  curriculum  of  professional 
schools  or  insufficiently  emphasised,  travelling 
fellowships,  special  loan  funds,  may  be  men- 


Felix  Adler  91 

tioned  as  instances  of  what  might  be  done  in 
this  direction. 

3.  Concentration,    or   selection    of   some 
principal  object  of  benefaction.     The  principal 
object  should  be  a  cause  or  movement  cal- 
culated to  produce  the  greatest  possible  good 
in  the  uplifting  of  mankind.     Different  objects 
would  appeal  to  different  minds:  economic 
reform  will  commend  itself  to  some ;  to  others, 
the  improvement  of  the  system  of  education; 
to  others,  movements  intended  to  promote  the 
national  health;  to  others,  missionary  propa- 
ganda, etc.     It  should  be  remembered,  how- 
ever, that  the  individual,  in  selecting  a  special 
cause  or  causes  to  which  he  will  leave  a  con- 
siderable portion  of  his  wealth,  is  not  morally 
free  to  follow  mere  prejudice  or  caprice,  but 
that,  regarding  himself  as  the  steward  of  a 
part  of  the  capital  of  society,  he  is  under 
obligation  to  seek  earnestly  for  light  and  to 
select  the  channel  into  which  to  pour  his  gifts 
only  after  the  most  careful  and  disinterested 

investigation  and  reflection. 

4.  Contributing  one's  quota  to  the  main- 


92  Ethical  Point  of  View 

tenance  of  the  ordinary  charities  or  philan- 
thropies such  as  hospitals,  institutions  for 
orphan  children,  institutions  which  minister 
to  the  relief  of  the  indigent,  etc.  Our  civilisa- 
tion has  not  yet  reached  the  stage  in  which 
we  can  truly  affirm  that  no  human  being  is 
allowed  to  perish  for  want  of  the  absolute 
necessaries  of  existence.  Our  municipal  and 
state  institutions  are  inadequate  to  cover  the 
needs  of  the  deserving;  private  philanthropy 
must  step  into  the  breach — and  it  is  the 
duty  of  all  who  have  the  means  to  do  so — 
to  help  in  satisfying  the  primary  needs  of 
their  fellows. 

It  may  not,  perhaps,  be  superfluous  or 
presumptuous  to  add  the  following  brief 
counsels:  Do  not  wait  till  the  hour  of  death 
is  at  hand,  but  give,  if  possible,  during  your 
life  so  that  you  may  participate  in  the  ad- 
ministration of  your  benefactions  and  may 
receive  the  education,  the  increase  of  insight 
into  social  needs,  which  comes  of  such  par- 
ticipation. 

Exercise  foresight  in  providing  for  the  sub- 


Felix  Adler  93 

stantial  fulfilment  of  your  wishes,  but  do 
not  impair  the  freedom  of  action  of  those 
who  come  after  you.  See  to  it  that  they 
carry  out  the  spirit  of  your  intentions,  but 
do  not  impose  the  weight  of  the  dead  hand  on 
posterity. 

Finally,  in  providing  for  children  and  those 
near  of  kin,  be  just  to  their  higher  interests 
as  human  beings,  as  well  as  to  their  material 
interests.  Do  not,  therefore,  by  loading  them 
with  excessive  wealth,  exempt  them  from  the 
salutary  necessity  to  make  good  their  place  in 
society  by  independent  efforts:  leave  them 
enough  to  put  them  into  conditions  which 
will  enable  them  to  deploy  their  energies  to 
the  best  advantage,  but  do  not  paralyse  the 
motives  which  prompt  to  the  putting  forth 
of  energy. 


II 


THE  ETHICAL  JUSTIFICATION  OF  AN 
INHERITANCE  TAX 

By 

CHARLES  F.  AKED,  D.D. 

Minister,  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist  Church,  New  York 

THERE  is  little  doubt  that  the  modern 
state  will  limit  the  power  of  bequest.  Ob- 
jections based  on  theories  of  personal  liberty, 
and  practical  objections  based  on  law  and 
constitution,  will  all  be  met  bravely,  resolutely, 
sanely.  It  is  difficult  to  see  that  anything 
better  on  this  subject  could  be  said  than  has 
already  been  said  by  Mr.  Andrew  Carnegie. 
His  Gospel  of  Wealth  remains  the  classic  upon 
the  right  of  the  community  to  take  back 
part  of  the  dead  man's  wealth  for  works  of 
public  service.  Lawyers  may  for  a  time  hold 

94 


Charles  F.  Aked  95 

that  his  proposals  are  unconstitutional  and 
rich  men's  sons  may  talk  about  "  spoliation " 
or  " confiscation71  or  something  else  of  the 
same  character.  But  the  good  sense  of  future 
generations  will  find  the  way. 

In  formulating  the  ethical  justification  of 
this  action  by  the  community,  the  facts  of 
re-action  and  of  inter-action  must  be  borne 
in  mind.  We  are  one  body.  The  enterprise, 
the  courage,  perhaps  even  the  self-sacrifice 
and  devotion  of  the  rich  man  contributed 
much  to  the  prosperity  of  the  community. 
He  could  not  build  a  railway  without  opening 
up  a  new  country,  creating  new  values,  mak- 
ing many  persons  less  poor  and  some  rich. 
He  could  not  invent,  manufacture,  transport 
on  a  large  scale,  or  by  his  own  labours  accumu- 
late wealth  in  any  way  recognised  as  legitimate 
by  the  standards  of  our  time,  without  serving 
a  thousand  interests  besides  his  own.  But, 
on  the  other  hand,  he  could  not  have  done 
it  without  the  conscious  and  unconscious 
co-operation  of  the  community.  "Unearned 
increment"  much  of  his  wealth,  under  any 


96  Ethical  Point  of  View 

conceivable  conditions,  must  remain — in- 
crease, that  is  to  say,  which  has  gone  on  by 
night  and  by  day,  through  the  natural  growth 
of  population,  the  development  of  city  and 
country,  and  the  movements  of  great  masses  of 
human  beings  obey  ing  the  laws  of  their  growth. 
He  is  not  to  be  blamed  for  taking  advan- 
tage of  these  factors.  On  the  contrary, 
in  taking  advantage  of  them  he  has  served 
the  material  interests  and  perhaps  the  moral 
interests  of  the  race.  And  he  is  entitled  to  the 
proper  rewards  of  his  industry  and  insight,  his 
inventive  skill  or  organising  genius.  Yet 
while  it  is  right  for  the  community  to  pay 
him  or  to  allow  him  to  pay  himself,  it  does 
not  follow  that  his  son,  or  his  son's  son,  or  his 
sister,  or  his  cousin,  or  his  aunt,  who  has  done 
nothing  but  arrange  to  get  born  under  favour- 
able conditions  and  has  made  a  prudent  selec- 
tion of  parents  beforehand,  is  entitled  to  the 
same  payment.  The  "heir"  has  done  no- 
thing: why  pay  him  on  the  same  scale?  And 
as  part  of  the  wealth  had  to  be  contributed, 
in  the  nature  of  the  case,  by  the  social  organism 


Charles  F.  Aked  97 

whether  the  community  willed  it  or  not,  now 
that  the  nature  of  the  case  permits  a  redis- 
tribution, the  community  is  entitled  to  de- 
mand a  share  of  the  wealth  it  created. 

In  a  word:  there  are  two  parties  to  the 
accumulation  of  that  wealth,  the  man  and 
society.  The  man  has  had  the  enjoyment 
of  it,  society  hitherto  assenting.  The  "heir" 
has  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  creation  of  it, 
and  society  is  entitled  to  take  back  at  least 
a  part  of  that  which  it  created. 

It  should  be  added  that  in  many  cases  this 
loss  will  be  a  great  gain  to  the  "heir."  He 
will  not  be  the  loser  by  it.  He  may  be  a 
better  man  and  a  stronger  man  because  he 
is  his  own  man  as  God  made  him  and  not 
merely  his  great-grandfather's  great-grandson. 
He  is  not  to  be  envied  if  inherited  wealth 
makes  of  him  an  effeminate  creature,  idle, 
luxurious,  vicious;  nor  to  be  pitied  if,  losing 
millions,  he  finds  his  manhood.  On  such  a 
view  society  is  entitled  to  protect  itself  against 
him  and  the  like  of  him.  It  is  not  good  for 
America  to  produce  in  the  homes  of  the  rich 


98  Ethical  Point  of  View 

an  aristocracy  of  wealth  imitating  the  char- 
acteristic vices  of  the  European  aristocracies, 
in  the  hour  when  they  are  imitating  the 
characteristic  vices  of  the  Renaissance.  A 
severely  progressive  inheritance  tax  might 
tend  to  diminish  the  "wine,  women,  and  song" 
type  of  life — but  it  might  add  to  the  number 
of  good  men  in  the  world. 

NEW  YORK,  March  i,  1911 


Ill 

ETHICAL  OBLIGATIONS  OF  THE  TESTATOR 

By 
JAMES  J.  Pox,  D.D. 

Professor  of  Ethics  in  the  Catholic  University 
of  America 

THE  right  of  disposing  of  one's  property  is 
looked  upon  by  Catholic  moralists  as  the 
complement  or  crown  of  the  right  of  private 
ownership;  and  consistently  with  their  un- 
compromising defence  of  the  right  of  property 
they  advocate  the  largest  reasonable  liberty 
for  the  possessor  who  is  making  his  will.  But 
because  this  latter  right  springs  from  the  right 
of  ownership,  it  is  evidently  subject  to  those 
limitations  which  restrict  that  of  ownership. 
Hence  to  determine  what  obligations  are 
incumbent  on  a  testator  we  have  to  recall 

99 


ioo  Ethical  Point  of  View 

what  are  the  restrictions  which  limit  his  right 
as  owner  or  proprietor. 

Now  Catholic  ethical  teaching  has  never 
tolerated  the  theory  that  the  owner  may  do 
absolutely  as  he  pleases  with  his  own;  it  is 
one  thing  to  possess  property,  another  thing 
to  use  it  as  one  wills.  We  do  not  acknow- 
ledge the  jus  abutendi.  Although  the  owner's 
right  is  full  and  complete  as  against  his  fellows, 
yet,  with  respect  to  God,  who  alone  is  absolute 
Proprietor,  his  right  is  but  one  of  stewardship 
or  administration.  He  is,  in  the  first  place, 
obliged  to  support  his  family  in  a  manner 
suitable  to  their  condition;  and  this  obliga- 
tion bears  not  only  on  his  administration  of 
his  goods  during  life,  but  it  also  extends  to  his 
testamentary  disposals.  In  the  well  known 
encyclical  on  the  conditions  of  the  working 
classes  Leo  XIII  has  succinctly  expounded 
this  duty  and  the  reason  for  it: 

It  is  a  most  sacred  law  of  nature  that  a  father 
should  provide  food  and  all  necessaries  for  those  whom 
he  has  begotten ;  and  similarly  nature  dictates  that  a 
man's  children,  who  carry  on,  so  to  speak,  and  con- 


James  J.  Fox  101 

tinue  his  own  personality,  should  be  by  him  provided 
with  all  that  is  needful  to  keep  themselves  honour- 
ably from  want  and  misery  amid  the  uncertainties  of 
this  mortal  life.  In  no  other  way  can  a  father  effect 
this  except  by  the  ownership  of  lucrative  property 
which  he  can  transmit  to  his  children  by  inheritance. 

But,  let  us  suppose  that  having  made 
adequate  provision  for  his  family  and  for  all 
other  private  claims  upon  him,  whether  they 
arise  from  strict  justice  or  be  of  a  less  rigorous 
character  such  as  spring  from  friendship, 
gratitude,  generosity  towards  those  who  have 
served  him,  etc.,  a  testator  still  has  a  surplus 
to  dispose  of.  May  he  do  what  he  pleases 
with  it,  or  even  follow  no  guide  but  caprice 
in  the  matter?  To  answer  this  question  we 
must  again  recall  the  restrictions  upon  the 
right  of  ownership ;  and  here,  too,  the  principles 
have  been  adequately  expressed  by  Leo  XIII 
in  the  document  already  quoted. 

Man  should  not  consider  his  outward  possessions 
as  his  own,  but  as  common  to  all  so  as  to  share  them 
without  hesitation  when  others  are  in  need.  When 
what  necessity  demands  has  been  supplied  and  one's 
standing  fairly  taken  thought  for,  it  becomes  a  duty, 
not  of  justice  (except  in  extreme  cases),  to  give  to 


102  Ethical  Point  of  View 

the  indigent  out  of  what  remains  over.  It  is  a  duty 
not  of  justice,  but  of  Christian  charity,  a  duty  not 
enforced  by  human  law;  but  the  laws  of  men  must 
yield  to  the  laws  and  judgments  of  Christ  the  true 
God  who  in  many  places  urges  on  His  followers  the 
practice  of  almsgiving. 

After  quoting  the  well  known  Gospel  texts 
relative  to  the  matter  the  Pontiff  sums  up : 

Whoever  has  received  from  the  divine  bounty  a 
large  share  of  temporal  blessings,  whether  they  be 
external  and  corporeal,  or  gifts  of  the  mind,  has  re- 
ceived them  for  the  perfection  of  his  own  nature,  and 
at  the  same  time  that  he  may  employ  them  as  the 
steward  of  Providence  for  the  benefit  of  others. 

The  Gospel  term  almsgiving  is  to  be  in- 
terpreted largely  and  with  reference  to  the 
social  conditions  in  which  we  live.  The  relief 
of  suffering  and  indigence  was  during  the 
time  of  Christ  almost  the  only  general  way  in 
which  paternal  benevolence  could  find  a  field 
for  practical  beneficence.  So  Christ  when 
urging  the  duty  of  fruitful  brotherly  love 
points  out  almsgiving  as  the  channel  which 
its  activity  is  to  take.  Evidently,  however, 
the  spirit  which  prompts  almsgiving  and 


James  J.  Fox  103 

other  means  of  relieving  actual  distress  or 
suffering  is  also  satisfied  by  the  devotion  of 
superfluous  wealth  to  such  purposes  as  have 
for  their  object  the  reformation  of  social  in- 
stitutions, conditions,  or  morals,  which  are  the 
widely  active  causes  of  much  poverty  and 
suffering. 


IV 
CHARITY  AND  RELIGION 

By 

DAVID  H.  GREEK 

Bishop  of  New  York 

WHAT  is  true  charity?  Not  the  gift  of  a 
dole  or  an  alms;  that  form  of  charity  is  fast 
becoming  obsolete.  True  charity  consists  in 
the  gift  of  one's  self.  No  man  can  reach  the 
full  stature  of  his  personality  except  through 
others.  Living  alone  and  standing  apart 
from  others,  he  can  never  show  what  he  is, 
but  only  what  he  is  not.  The  people  about 
us  to-day  are  not  really  other  people,  they  are 
ourselves,  in  whom  we  become  alive,  and 
reach  and  find  ourselves;  and  in  whose  fea- 
tures, masked  and  disguised  by  suffering, 

need   and   ignorance,   foolishness  and  want, 

104 


David  H.  Greer  105 

we  shall  find,  as  the  mask  is  lifted,  the  features 
of  ourselves. 

Then  again  charity  is  religion,  or  the 
handmaid  of  religion.  Religion  and  charity 
have  always  been  associated.  Charity  is 
the  offspring  of  religion  and  of  the  Christian 
religion  in  particular.  This  is  not  a  theologi- 
cal statement,  open  to  question;  it  is  a  state- 
ment of  fact,  which  every  student  of  history 
knows  and  is  familiar  with.  For  while  it  is 
true,  as  Mr.  Lecky  tells  us,  that  a  few  pagan 
examples  of  charity  have  indeed  descended 
to  us,  it  is  also  true  that  they  are  exceptional 
and  few,  and  that  when  Christianity  appeared 
charity  became  the  rule,  and  was  regarded, 
at  least  by  the  Christian  world,  as  a  "  rudi- 
mentary virtue. "  The  motive  which  inspired 
this  early  Christian  charity  was  not  always, 
as  is  sometimes  alleged,  the  hope  of  winning 
another  world.  That  may  have  entered  into 
the  motive,  and  doubtless  did  a  little.  For 
motives,  even  the  best,  are  sometimes  mixed 
and  alloyed  with  personal  considerations. 
But  the  motive  which  inspired  charitable 


io6  Ethical  Point  of  View 

ministrations  in  the  early  Christian  world 
was  in  the  main  the  impulse  and  the  desire 
to  minister  to  human  life,  because  it  was 
human  life  which  Jesus  Christ  had  declared 
to  be,  even  in  its  poorest  and  most  degraded 
forms,  of  such  transcendent  worth. 

It  has  been  said  that  the  great  social 
struggle  of  to-day  is  between  the  "haves" 
and  the  "have  nots."  Mr.  Benjamin  Kidd, 
however,  has  pointed  out  that  that  is  not  the 
case,  but  that  it  is  between  the  selfish  "haves" 
and  the  unselfish  "haves."  That  is  where 
the  battle  line  is  drawn.  Those  are  the 
persons  who  are  fighting  the  battle  out  for 
the  redemption  of  modern  society.  There  are 
many  conspicuous  examples  upon  the  better 
side:  men  of  great  possessions,  who  realise 
their  great  and  exceptional  opportunities  for 
usefulness  and  who  are  trying  as  best  they 
can  to  meet  them.  But  the  consciousness 
of  any  kind  of  gift,  physical  gift,  mental 
gift,  the  gift  of  money  endowment,  brings 
always,  I  think,  great  temptations  with  it. 
The  man  who  has  within  him  a  power  which 


David  H.  Greer  107 

lifts  him  up  above  his  fellow  men  will  see 
more  things  to  do,  not  only  good  but  bad,  not 
only  right  but  wrong,  than  they  can  possibly 
see,  and  he  will  be  tempted  to  do  them.  He 
may  not  yield  to  the  temptation,  but  he  sees 
it,  and  will  flush  and  burn  with  it  at  times. 
The  consciousness  of  his  power,  of  his  gift, 
will  have  the  effect  to  drive  him  into  the 
wilderness  of  integrity  and  virtue  and  purity, 
struggling  with  the  evil  voices.  Neverthe- 
less there  are  many  men  of  very  large  and 
important  affairs  who  are  modest,  simple- 
minded,  and  unassuming,  caring  most  of  all, 
not  for  worldly  honours  or  worldly  decorations 
and  flatteries  which  people  are  always  ready 
to  give  them,  but  for  the  sanction  of  their 
conscience  and  the  approval  of  their  God,  to 
Whom  they  feel  they  must  give  an  account 
at  the  last  of  the  great  and  important  trusts 
which  have  been  committed  to  them. 


THE  HYPNOTIC  POWER  OF  WEALTH 

By 

NEWELL  DWIGHT  HILLIS,  D.D.,  LIT.  D. 
Pastor,  Plymouth  Church,  Brooklyn 

OUR  country  now  has  one  hundred  millions 
of  people  and  one  hundred  and  thirty  billions 
of  property.  In  1650  we  had  twenty-five 
thousand  people,  living  on  the  edge  of  the 
forest.  This  means  that  in  two  hundred  and 
fifty  years  our  population  has  multiplied  four 
thousand  times.  Suppose  now  that  in  the 
next  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  we  increase 
not  four  thousand  times,  but  only  four  times, 
we  would  then  have  a  population  of  four 
hundred  millions.  But  our  wealth  has  grown 
far  more  rapidly  than  our  population.  One 
hundred  and  thirty  billions  expressed  in  terms 

108 


Newell  Dwight  Hillis  109 

of  pastures,  meadows,  harvests,  forests,  mines, 
herds,  flocks,  towns,  and  cities,  represents  a 
sum  almost  immeasurable.  As  yet  we  have 
but  scratched  the  surface  of  the  soil.  This 
year  we  will  during  twelve  months  produce 
fifteen  billions  of  dollars  through  harvests, 
manufacturing,  and  shipping.  The  best  finan- 
cial experts  tell  us  that  we  are  soon  to  have 
five  hundred  billions.  The  streams  of  wealth 
are  coming  in  like  a  flood. 

One  of  the  results  of  this  flood  of  wealth  is 
the  choking  of  the  ideal,  and  the  smothering 
of  the  great  convictions  of  the  fathers.  As 
never  before  wealth  is  proving  its  hypnotic 
power.  Our  sons  and  daughters  are  being 
charmed  by  the  glitter  of  dollars  as  young 
sparrows  by  the  glitter  of  snakes'  eyes. 
Wealth  that  was  intended  as  the  almoner  of 
bounty  toward  the  home,  the  school,  the 
library,  the  gallery,  the  reform,  the  church,  is 
becoming  an  end  in  itself.  Multitudes  are 
living  toward  rich  foods,  soft  raiment,  and 
gorgeous  equipage.  As  property  increases, 
some  men  decay. 


no  Ethical  Point  of  View 

That  food  is  ours  that  can  be  digested — no 
more.  At  the  peril  of  life  itself  man  eats 
more  stalled  ox,  drinks  more  wine  than  he  can 
digest;  the  excess  is  poison.  That  property 
is  ours  that  we  can  digest,  use,  and  convert 
into  terms  of  personal  life  and  social  service. 
The  man  who  is  rich  on  the  outside  and  poor 
on  the  inside  is  a  pauper  by  way  of  pre- 
eminence. 

The  great  question  of  the  hour  is,  how  shall 
men  administer  their  wealth — before  death, 
by  making  every  guinea  serve  their  fellows — 
after  death,  by  directing  it  into  the  channels 
that  enrich  the  state,  and  nourish  democracy, 
morality,  and  the  highest  manhood?  The 
death  of  a  multi-millionaire  in  the  West,  who 
recently  left  a  hundred  millions  in  such  a  way 
as  to  build  up  his  name,  and  who,  on  the 
publication  of  his  will,  received  only  criticism 
and  shame,  until  those  who  honoured  and 
loved  him  are  always  now  on  the  defensive, 
offers  warning  and  even  suggests  terror  and 
alarm  to  men  who  hoard  here,  and  have  not 
made  their  gold  to  serve  their  fellows  hereafter. 


Newell  Dwight  Hillis  in 

That  man  is  a  benefactor  of  the  republic  who 
can  show  the  millionaire  how  to  make  his 
wealth  run  through  the  generations  like  the 
Rhine  that  carries  blessing  as  it  turns  mill- 
wheels  and  waters  innumerable  fields,  rather 
than  like  the  Dead  Sea,  that  receives  all,  gives 
nothing,  and  with  its  salty  death  becomes  the 
symbol  of  all  miserly  souls. 


VI 
A  BENEFACTION  PRELIMINARY  TO  ALL  OTHERS 

By 

F.  DE  SOLA  MENDES,  PH.D. 

Rabbi,  West  End  Synagogue,  New  York 

As  to  the  post-mortem  benefactions  of 
millionaires,  the  field  of  human  activity  which 
has  my  approval,  as  a  candidate  for  the 
benefactions  of  either  the  living  or  the  dead, 
is  that  of  scientific  medical  exploration.  I 
can  conceive  of  no  more  useful  application 
for  the  opportunity,  the  power,  the  enthusi- 
astic energy,  which  would  be  inspired  by 
large  funds  at  disposal.  The  New  Medicine, 
with  its  vast  and  ramifying  revelations  of 
germ-activities  wholesome  as  well  as  baneful, 
seems  to  cry  aloud,  in  the  name  of  suffering 

112 


F.  de  Sola  Mendes  113 

humanity,  for  deepest  study  and  widest 
application. 

Not  that  I  would  thus  have  human  beings 
essay  to  "eat  of  the  Tree  of  Knowledge"  that 
they  may  live  for  ever  "and  not  die/'  but  the 
sound  bodies  and  constitutions  with  which 
God  created  them  have  been  sorely  under- 
mined by  centuries  of  excess  and  honeycombed 
by  neglect  and  disease.  To  build  up  new 
health;  to  restore  vitiated  constitutions,  by 
strengthening  all  good  germs  and  destroying  all 
evil  ones,  is,  in  my  humble  estimation,  a  prior 
necessity  to  any  and  all  schemes  of  intellectual, 
eleemosynary,  commercial,  or  political  philan- 
thropies. I  would  that  the  benefactors  of 
great  wealth  might  think  of  this  before  ordain- 
ing their  monetary  contributions  to  human 
welfare. 

The  first  duty  of  such  men  naturally  is  to 
conserve  the  comfort  and  welfare  of  their 
immediate  descendants  by  bequeathing  to 
them  just  so  much  as  is  wise,  proper,  and  non- 
enervating.  After  that,  the  care  of  the  greater 
family  of  humankind  should  come,  in  any 


H4  Ethical  Point  of  View 

form  or  fashion  that  in  the  wisdom  of  men  can 
be  discerned  as  promising  the  greatest  good 
to  the  greatest  number.  And  what  fulfils 
this  ideal  better  than  the  medical  research  to 
which  I  have  endeavoured  to  point? 

I  hold  no  brief  for  medicine,  my  profession 
is  a  different  one;  perhaps  just  therefore  my 
inmost  conviction  may  be  entitled  to  greater 
attention. 


VII 
PROLONGED  USEFULNESS 

By 
HENRY  WHITE  WARREN,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 

THE  virile  Anglo-Saxon  race  can  plan  more 
than  it  can  execute.  Hence  a  million  persons, 
mostly  manual  labourers,  come  from  the 
older  world  annually  to  help  execute  our 
large  plans.  We  carry  the  artisan's  wages 
up  to  five  or  ten  dollars  a  day  instead  of  ten 
cents  a  day  as  in  indolent  India,  where  there 
is  little  to  be  done  except  to  raise  a  little  cotton 
for  little  clothing,  a  little  rice  for  too  little 
nourishment.  We  do  this  to  get  our  large 
plans  accomplished. 

As  the  years  grow  fewer  we  feel  that  there 

«5 


n6  Ethical  Point  of  View 

is  more  to  be  done  for  God  and  His  children 
than  our  time  and  means  can  achieve.  So 
felt  the  Christ.  Hence  He  made  his  will: 
"Not  as  the  world  giveth  give  I  unto  you? 
Peace  I  leave  with  you.  My  peace  I  give 
unto  you."  Legacies  of  infinite  preciousness ! 
It  is  His  own  influence  prolonged.  Nearly 
every  person  can  follow  His  example  and  thus 
prolong  and  even  eternise  his  influence. 

This  should  be  done,  first,  for  its  influence  on 
the  giver.  It  brings  great  serenity  and  satis- 
faction to  one's  days  of  declining  vigour  to  feel 
that  his  work  will  go  on  through  many  and 
perhaps  all  coming  years.  To  give  something 
to  God  makes  one  feel  allied  to  Him  who  gave 
all  for  us.  Second,  it  should  be  done  for  the 
benefit  of  one's  heirs.  It  gives  them  a  per- 
ception that  the  one  they  have  occasion  to 
revere  and  love  had  higher  aims  than  mere 
money  getting.  These  gifts  to  the  public 
good  should  be  freely  canvassed  and  made 
known  to  all  concerned  while  the  testator  is 
still  alive  and  in  health.  There  will  be  no 
contest  then.  The  right  to  dispose  of  property 


Henry  White  Warren  117 

is  recognised  while  the  earner  and  owner  is 
living. 

Sometimes  property  may  be  given  to 
legatees  in  trust  for  certain  clearly  defined 
benefactions.  How  many  there  are:  help  to 
the  sick;  endowments  of  hospital  beds;  re- 
wards in  schools;  small  endowments  to  faithful 
servant  girls  on  their  marriage;  a  watering 
trough,  or  drinking  fountain;  for  the  best 
acre  of  corn,  or  the  daintiest  front  yard.  On 
rising  higher  there  are  endowments  of  many 
kinds  to  educational  institutions ;  departments 
in  libraries;  for  proficiency  in  particular  or 
general  studies  resulting  in  more  study  at 
home,  or  by  fellowships  abroad;  lectureships 
or  professorships. 

Take  an  illustration  of  a  wise  investment. 
When  Professor  McCabe  of  the  Ohio  Wes- 
leyan  celebrated  his  semi-centennial  of  teach- 
ing, some  one  calculated  the  number  of  years 
he  had  preached  by  his  pupils.  Some  had 
preached  forty  years  and  later  pupils  ten  or 
two.  The  sum  total  was  over  six  thousand 
years.  Suppose  some  one  had  endowed  that 


n8  Ethical  Point  of  View 

chair  and  thus  supported  that  professor  for 
all  those  years  and  all  the  fifty  years  to  fol- 
low. It  would  have  been  a  wise  investment. 
Such  opportunities  are  still  open. 

Then  of  course  there  is  the  world- wide  field 
of  missionary  endeavour.  This  is  every  kind 
of  good  to  the  most  needy,  hospitals,  dis- 
pensaries, schools,  medicine,  arts,  churches, 
and  salvation  to  those  who  have  none  of  either. 
This  not  only  blesses  men  but  it  glorifies — 
makes  glorious — God.  To  have  produced 
such  children  of  world-wide  benefaction  re- 
flects honour  and  glory  upon  the  Father. 


VIII 
THE  HIGHER  LAW  IN  THE  USE  OF  WEALTH 

By 

DAVID  G.  WYLIE,  PH.D.,  D.D. 

Pastor,  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church,  New  York 

THE  maxim,  "Wealth  is  power/1  still  stands 
and  holds  good;  indeed,  never  more  so  than  in 
this  age,  throbbing  with  energy  and  thirsting 
for  gold !  Wealth  has  a  charm  for  the  average 
man,  because  it  spells  pleasure,  place,  power; 
and,  in  the  minds  of  many,  if  not  of  most  men 
and  women,  is  the  synonym  of  influence  in  all 
the  walks  of  life.  Because  money  is  so  power- 
ful, it  is  not  strange  that  many  who  have 
become  rich  have  a  passion,  a  greed  for  more, 
and  willingly  bow  and  worship  before  the 
golden  calf. 

Wealth  has  its  uses  and  abuses;  but  its 
119 


120  Ethical  Point  of  View 

abuse  is  no  argument  against  its  use  or 
possession;  and  the  "power  to  get  wealth" 
is  a  talent  to  be  used.  We  must  scorn  any 
system  of  socialism,  so  called,  Christian  or 
other  type,  that  makes  the  accumulation  of 
wealth  a  sin  or  crime.  It  is  not  the  possession 
of  vast  fortunes  that  we  find  fault  with,  or 
complain  of,  but  the  wrong  use  of  wealth  in 
life  or  after  death. 

The  proper  use  of  accumulated  wealth  in 
life  and  its  post-mortem  disposition  is  attract- 
ing more  and  more  attention  from  the  pos- 
sessors of  great  fortunes  and  from  publicists, 
thinkers,  and  writers.  This  is  a  gratifying 
fact;  for  it  is  certain  that  if  people  possessing 
wealth  are  led  to  think  seriously  respecting  its 
right  use  in  life  and  its  wise  post-mortem  dispo- 
sition, many  serious  problems  will  be  solved. 

Possessors  of  wealth  have  a  mighty  influence 
in  their  hands  for  good  or  evil.  If  used  wisely, 
wealth  makesfamilies  united, happy ,  contented, 
prosperous,  and  influential;  advances  art 
and  education;  improves  the  moral  condition 
of  the  community  and  hastens  the  hour  of 


David  G.  Wylie  121 

universal  brotherhood.  On  the  other  hand, 
wealth  used  unwisely,  unjustly,  wrongly, 
becomes  a  disturbing  element  in  home 
life,  and  often  makes  members  of  families  and 
relatives  oppose  and  hate  each  other.  This 
being  so,  it  follows  that  great  care  should  be 
exercised  in  the  present  day  use  of  wealth 
and  in  the  making  of  wills  which  dispose  of 
accumulated  possessions. 

This  article  is  written  from  the  moral  and 
religious  point  of  view ;  and  on  the  face  of  it, 
the  proposition  that  parents  should  avoid 
discrimination  and  favouritism  in  their  dis- 
tribution of  wealth  to  their  children  in  life  and 
its  disposition  after  death,  holds  good  now, 
as  in  the  past.  Wise  parents  should  learn 
lessons  from  sacred  and  secular  history  which 
shows  that  favouritism  and  discrimination 
have  produced  tragedies  in  many  families. 

It  is  possible  that  some  objector  may  seek 
to  call  a  halt  in  this  argument  by  asking  the 
question,  Have  not  fathers  or  mothers,  if  in 
possession  of  their  faculties,  the  legal  right  to 
dispose  of  their  possessions  as  they  please: 


122  Ethical  Point  of  View 

to  do  what  they  will  with  their  own?  Yes, 
the  legal  right  to  throw  their  money  into  a 
river  or  to  make  a  bonfire  of  it;  but  the  right 
to  dispose  of  wealth  should  be  used  with  a 
fine  discrimination.  A  father  may  have  the 
legal  right  to  disinherit  all  his  children  except 
the  favourite  around  whom  his  affections 
cluster;  but  the  bestowment  of  wealth  upon 
one  child,  rather  than  equally  and  justly 
upon  all,  provided  the  other  members  of  the 
family  have  not  forfeited,  by  their  conduct, 
the  respect,  confidence,  and  love  of  their 
father,  is  sure  to  break  up  family  unity  and  to 
produce  malevolent  feelings.  This  being  the 
case,  a  parent  has  no  moral  right  to  dis- 
criminate against  his  children  in  favour  of  any 
particular  one  who,  on  account  of  a  fortunate 
disposition,  or  by  skilful  methods,  has  won 
the  affection  of  his  father  or  mother.  In  the 
bestowment  of  favours  in  life  and,  by  will, 
after  death,  parents  should  be  guided  by  the 
41  higher  law." 

What    father    or  mother   worthy    of   the 
name,  would  be  willing  to  see  the  members 


David  G.  Wylie  123 

of  his  family  wounded  in  their  feelings,  made 
jealous,  treating  each  other  like  wild  beasts 
because  of  his  unjust  discrimination  in  the 
bestowment  of  affection  or  money?  What 
wise,  sane,  just  father  does  not  shrink  from 
the  thought  of  his  children  standing  about 
his  death-bed  or  his  grave  feeling  that  they 
have  been  treated  unjustly  and  burning  with 
resentment?  The  difficulty  seems  to  be  that 
many  people  fail  to  understand  that  the  be- 
stowment of  gifts  in  life,  or  by  will,  upon  one 
member  of  the  family  is  a  revelation  of  affec- 
tion for  one  as  against  other  members  of  the 
family;  and  few  things  are  more  certain  to 
disrupt  families  than  the  suspicion,  even,  that 
a  parent  loves  one  child  better  than  another. 
When  it  becomes  evident  that  a  parent  has 
more  affection  for  one  child  than  for  another, 
jealousy  is  sure  to  break  out  and  to  burn  hotly 
among  the  members  of  the  family.  Really, 
this  seems  to  have  been  the  difficulty  in  the 
case  of  the  old  patriarch,  Jacob,  which  bulks 
so  largely  in  the  book  of  Genesis.  That 
"coat  of  many  colours"  played  havoc;  for 


124  Ethical  Point  of  View 

the  other  brothers  immediately  felt  that  Joseph 
was  his  father's  favourite  and  they  resented  it. 
It  is  quite  possible  that  there  were  other 
indications  that  Jacob  had  special  affection 
for  Joseph  which  may  have  been  manifested 
in  many  ways;  by  his  desire  to  have  his 
favourite  son  near  him  and  to  have  him  well 
provided  for,  even  at  the  expense  of  his  other 
sons.  The  equal  distribution  of  affection  and 
fortune  kindles  love  in  the  hearts  of  children ; 
the  unequal  distribution  kills  love  and  kindles 
resentment!  History  shows  that  this  state- 
ment is  a  hard,  cold  fact! 

A  man  having  made  provision  for  his 
children  should  treat  his  wife  in  the  same  just 
and  equable  manner.  Some  men,  in  their 
wills,  fail  to  make  adequate  provision  for  their 
wives.  Others  dispose  of  their  estates  in  such 
a  way  as  to  put  mothers  largely  in  the  power 
of  their  children;  others,  still,  in  such  a  manner 
that  the  mother's  power  over  her  children 
practically  disappears.  It  is  thus  apparent 
that  justice  and  common-sense  should  control 
men  in  the  making  of  their  wills. 


David  G.  Wylie  125 

Having  provided  for  his  wife  and  children, 
it  is  proper  and  right  for  a  man,  in  case  his 
estate  is  ample,  to  think  seriously  of  the 
demands  of  charity  upon  his  fortune.  Men  of 
wealth  are  under  obligation  to  support  the 
great  organisations  and  institutions  of  society 
by  a  wise  use  of  their  money.  In  doing  this 
one  should  be  guided,  not  by  vanity,  or  for  the 
purpose  of  exploiting  his  name,  but  by  a 
desire  to  create  an  influence  which  will  be  for 
the  good  of  the  community. 

And  here  it  may  be  worth  while  to  suggest 
that  a  general  bequest  to  charity  is  not  usually 
so  beneficial  as  one  for  some  specific  purpose; 
as  for  example,  the  alleviation  of  a  particular 
form  of  disease,  or  the  establishment  of  a 
home  for  unfortunate  people,  or  the  assistance 
given  to  a  hospital  which  deals  with  some 
specific  form  of  work;  in  a  word,  some  need 
which  the  testator's  experience  has  shown  not 
to  have  been  met  by  existing  organisations, 
or  not  fully  met. 

Summing  up,  the  conclusion  is  evident  that 
parents  should  be  just  to  their  children  in  their 


126  Ethical  Point  of  View 

gifts  during  life  and  in  their  post-mortem 
benefactions ;  that  men  should  be  just  and  fair 
to  their  wives  by  making  that  provision  for 
them  which  will  secure  their  comfort  and  leave 
them  free  from  the  possible  domination  of  their 
children;  that  wills  should  be  made  only  after 
careful  consideration,  and  with  the  assistance 
and  under  the  direction  of  a  wise  legal  adviser; 
and  that  those  who  have  fortunes  to  dispose 
of  should  see  to  it  that  the  institutions  which 
they  seek  to  create  or  assist  are  worthy  and 
such  as  will  advance  the  highest  interests  of 
their  fellow-men. 


INDEX 


Accumulation  of  income,  14, 15 
Adopted  children,  46 
Ahem,  Maurice,  will  of,  17 
Alexandre,  James  J.,  will  of,  17 
Almoner   form   of    charitable 

corporation,  34 

Almstaedt,  Rachael,  will  of,  17 
Astor,  John  Jacob,  will  of,  28, 

4i 

Astor,  William,  will  of,  28 
Astor,  William  B.,  will  of,  28 

Benefaction  preliminary  to  all 

others,  112 

Bills,  Annie  Jane,  will  of,  17 
Boerum,  Agnes,  will  of,  17 
Brown,  Harold,  will  of,  29 
Brown,  John  Carter,  will  of, 

29 
Brown,  John  Nicholas,  will  of, 

29 
Brown,  Paul  Sandstrom,  will 

of,  17 
Bruchaeser,  Valentin,  will  of, 

17 

Caldwell,  Elizabeth  B.,  will  of, 

17 

California,  Rule  against  Per- 
petuities in,  14 


Carnegie  Foundation,  33 
Carnegie  Institution,  33 
Catholic  ethical  teaching,  100 
Character  of  gifts,  54 
Charitable    bequests,    sugges- 
tions as  to,  89 

Charitable  gifts,  form  of,  65 
Charitable    objects,    selection 

of,  58 

Charitable  uses,  law  of,  36 
Charity  and  religion,  104 
Charity,  purposes  of,  58 
Children,  rights  of,  cut  off  by 

will,  45 
Children,      usual     object    of 

bounty,  44 

Christian  charity,  104 
Clark,  Nathan,  will  of,  17 
Cooper,  Peter,  33 
Corcoran,  W.  W.,  33 
Getting,  Amos,  will  of,   17 
Crerar,  John,  founder  of    li- 
brary, 38 

Cummings,  George  W.,  will  of, 
17 

Daughters,  protection  of,  from 

husbands,  47 
Deeds     of     settlement,     gifts 

under,  when  take  effect,  18 


127 


128 


Index 


Deeds  of  settlement,  property 
transmitted  by,  1 8 

Deeds  of  trust,  gifts  under, 
when  take  effect,  18 

Deeds  of  trust,  property  trans- 
mitted by,  1 8 

Delay  in  making  will,  danger- 
ous, 84 

Discrimination  between  kin- 
dred, 50 

Eddy,  Mary  Baker  G.,  will  of, 
82  note 

Edson,  Mary  A.,  will  of,  17 

Egleston,  George  Washington, 
will  of,  17 

Eliot,  Dr.  Chas.  W.,  observa- 
tions of,  29 

Entailment  of  property,  n 

Ethical  justification  of  in- 
heritance tax,  94 

Ethical  obligations  of  the 
testator,  99 

Executors  and  trustees,  selec- 
tion of,  73 

Family     harmony,     preserva- 

\   tion  of,  49 

Family,  obligations  to,  21 

Family,  plans  for,  25 

Family,  use  of  wealth  for, 
119 

Fargo,  Georgia,  will  of,  17 

Females,  rights  of,  how  pro- 
tected, 47 

Field,  Marshall,  will  of,  13 

Fisher,  Joseph,  will  of,  17 

Foundations  after  death,  35 


Foundations  before  death,  32 
Fuchs,  Peter,  will  of,  17 

Garland,  James  A.,  will  of,  17 
Garner,  William  T.,  will  of,  17 
General  Education  Board,  33 
Gifts,  character  of,  54 
Gifts,  kinds  of,  19 
Gifts,  methods  of  giving,  19 
Gifts  under  wills,  trust  deeds, 

or   settlements,    when   take 

effect,  1 8 
Girard,    Stephen,    founder   of 

College,  35 
Goelet  wills,  29 
Gordon,   William  J.,   founder 

of  Park,  41 

Hagemeyer,  George,  will  of,  17 
Henry,  Mary  E.,  will  of,  17 
Higher  law  in  use  of  wealth, 

119 

Hopkins,  Johns,  33 
Hoyt,  Jesse,  will  of,  17 
Husbands,  marital  rights  of,  47 
Hypnotic  power  of  wealth,  108 

Idaho,  Rule  against  Perpe- 
tuities in,  14 

Illegitimate  children,  46 

Illinois,  Rule  against  Per- 
petuities in,  14 

Indiana,  Rule  against  Per- 
petuities in,  14 

Infants,  protection  of,  rights 
of,  47 

Inheritance  taxes,  68 


Index 


129 


Inheritance  tax,  ethical  justi- 
fication of,  94 

Inheritance  taxes  reduced,  71 
Instrument  of  disposition,  76 
Insurance  of  wills,  82 

Jones,  George,  will  of,  17 
Kennedy,  John  S.,  will  of,  32 

Lawrence,  James  W.,  will  of, 

17 

Limitations    on    power    over 
property,  II 

McCabe,  Francis,  will  of,  17 
McComb,  J.  Jennings,  will  of, 

17 
Medical  research  as  a  charity, 

112 

Michigan,   Rule  against  Per- 
petuities in,  14 

Minnesota,  Rule  against  Per- 
petuities in,  14 
Missions,  first  bequest  to,   31 
Montana,    Rule   against   Per- 
petuities in,  14 
Mulry,  William,  will  of,  17 
Murray,  Maria,  will  of,  17 

Newberry,  Walter  L.,  founder 
of  Library,  38 

New  York,  Rule  against  Per- 
petuities in,  14 

Noble,  Dr.,  will  of,  17 

North  Dakota,   Rule  against 
Perpetuities  in,  14 
9 


Obligations  of  testator,  99 
Obligations  to  family,  21 
Ownership,  a  trust,  8 
Ownership,  obligations  of,  8 

Peabody  Fund,  34 

Peabody,  George,  34 

Perpetuities,  Rule  against,  n 

Philanthropic  purposes,  sug- 
gestions as  to,  89 

Planning  transmission  of  pro- 
perty, 21 

Plans  for  family  and  friends,  25 

Plans  for  the  public,  31 

Plans  for  public  and  private 
purposes,  40 

Plant,  Henry  B.,  will  of,  16 

Power  of  wealth  after  death,  3 

Power  of  wealth,  hypnotic, 
108 

Power  over  property  limited, 
ii 

Pratt,  Charles,  33 

Pratt,  Charles,  will  of,  42 

Pratt,  Enos,  33 

Pratt  Institute,  42 

Preservation  of  family  har- 
mony, 48 

Procrastination,  an  unmixed 
evil,  84 

Prolonged  usefulness,  115 

Property  affected  by  will,  51 

Property  may  be  tied  up,  15 

Property  to  be  transmitted,  51 

Property,  transmission  of,  18 

Public,  plans  for,  31 

Randall,  Robert  Richard,  38 


130 


Index 


Research,  medical,  as  a  charity, 

112 

Rhodes,  Cecil,  will  of,  40 
Rockefeller  Foundation,  33 
Roos,  August,  will  of,  17 
Roosevelt,  James  H.,  founder 

of  Hospital,  36 

Rule  against  Perpetuities,   n 
Rule   against   Perpetuities  in 

the  United  States,  14 
Russell   Sage  Foundation,   33 

Sage,  Russell,  Foundation,  33 

Sage,  Russell,  will  of,  41 

Sailors  Snug  Harbor,  38 

Saunders,  Ervin,  35 

Settlements,  76 

Settlements,  gifts  under,  when 
take  effect,  18 

Settlements,    property    trans- 
mitted by,  1 8 

Sherman,  Elijah  T.,  will  of,  17 

Slater,  John  F.,  34 

Snyder,  Joseph  H.,  will  of,  17 

South   Dakota,   Rule   against 
Perpetuities  in,  14 

Stanford,  Leland,  33 

Stein  way,  Christian  F.  T.,  will 
of,  17 

Stewart,  Alexander  T.,  will  of, 
42 

Stratton,  Winfield  S.,  founder 
of  Home,  38 

Sullivan,  John,  will  of,  17 

Taxation  of  estates,  67 
Taxation  of  inheritances,  ethi- 
cal justification  of,  94 


Thellusson  Act,  12 
Thellusson,  Peter,  will  of,  12 
Thomas,  Sally,  will  of,  31 
Tiffany,  Charles  L.,  will  of,  27 
Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  why    will 

failed,  35 

Tilden,  Samuel  J.,  will  of,  17 
Transmission  of  property,  18, 

5i 

Trotter,  Charles  W.,  will  of,  17 
Trowbridge,  George  A.,  will  of, 

17 

Trust  deeds,  76 

Trust  deeds,  gifts  under,  when 
take  effect,  18 

Trust  deeds,  property  trans- 
mitted by,  1 8 

Trustees,  selection  of,  73 

Tying  up  property,  15 

Tying  up  property  as  estates 
become  larger,  25 

Unlawful  accumulation,  14,  15 
Use  of  wealth,  under  higher 

law,  119 

Usefulness  prolonged,   115 
Usual  objects  of  bounty,  44 

Vanderbilt  wills,  29 
Vassar  College,  42 
Vassar,  John  Guy,  will  of,  17 
Vassar,  Matthew,  33 
Vassar,  Matthew,  will  of,  42 

Wakeman,  David,  will  of,  17 
Walker,  Edward,  will  of,  17 
Wealth,  power  of,  after  death,  3 
Wealth,  use  of ,  for  family,  119 


Index 


Wealth,    uses    of,    public    or 

private,  21 
Wealth,  use  under  higher  law, 

119 
Whitefield,  George,  Jr.,  will  of, 

17 

Wife,  protection  of,  from  hus- 
band, 47 

Wife,  rights  cut  off  by  will,  45 
Wife,  usual  object  of  bounty,  44 
Will  affects  what  property,  51 
Will  as  instrument  of  dis- 
position, 76 


Will,  delay  dangerous,  84 
Wills,  insurance  of,  82 
Wills,  preparation  of,  77 
Wills,     property     transmitted 

by,  1 8 

Wills  take  effect  at  death,  18 
Wisconsin,  Rule  against  Per- 
petuities in,   14 
Women,   rights  of,  how  pro- 
tected, 47 

Wood,  Samuel,  will  of,  17 
Woodruff,  Amos,  will  of,  17 
Wooley,  Edward  A.,  will  of,  17 


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G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

HEW  yoRK  tONDON 


Why  War  Must  Cease 

The  Great  Illusion 

A  Study  of  the  Relation  of  Military  Power  in  Nations  to  their 
Economic  and  Social  Advantages 

By  Norman  Angell 

400Pagcs.    CrownSvo.    $1 .50  net    Bymail$l.65 

Contents ; 

PART  I.— THE  ECONOMICS  OF  THE  CASE 

1 .  Statement  of  the  Economic  Case  for  War 

2.  The  Axioms  of  Modern  Statecraft 

3.  The  Great  Illusion 

4.  The  Impossibility  of  Confiscation 

5.  Foreign  Trade  and  Military  Power 

6.  The  Indemnity  Futility 

7.  How  Colonies  are  "  Owned  " 

PART  2.— THE  HUMAN  NATURE  OF  THE  CASE 

1 .  Outline  of  the  Case  for  War 

2.  Outline  of  the  Case  for  Peace 

3.  Unchanging  Human  Nature 

4.  Do  the  Warlike  Nations  Inherit  the  Earth  ? 

5.  The   Diminishing  Factor  of  Physical  Force  :   Psycho- 

logical Results 

6.  The    State    as   a    Person:    A    False    Analogy   and    its 

Consequences 

PART  3.— THE  PRACTICAL  OUTCOME 

1 .  Armament,  but  not  alone  Armament 

2.  The  Relation  of  Defence  to  Aggression 

3.  Methods 

"  Mr.  Angell  throws  into  the  dust-bin  the  worn-out  theories, 
the  axioms  of  statecraft,  the  shibboleths  of  diplomats,  the 
mouthings  of  politicastros,  as  to  the  necessity  for  war.  Not 
to  speak  of  it  flamboyantly,  this  work  is  to  war  and  to  the 
spirit  of  the  war  god  the  modern  Mene,  Mene,  Tekel,  Uphar- 
sin,  the  flamingly  prophetic  handwriting  on  the  wall  for  all 
captains  of  whatsoever  sort  who  by  means  of  war  would  keep 
humanity  frightened,  brutalized,  enslaved,  and  impoverished." 
—  St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
NEW  YORK  LONDON 


221  0 


_ 


